Stephen Clark – Page 497 – Spaceflight Now

Engineers finding lessons in nearly flawless Orion test flight

February 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

December’s first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion crew capsule was almost perfect, but engineers are carefully analyzing 600 gigabytes of data recorded on the spacecraft’s trip 3,600 miles into space to see how future missions to an asteroid and Mars could be improved.

Arianespace on pace for one launch per month in 2015

February 18, 2015 Stephen Clark

Last week’s successful launch of a Vega rocket with a European re-entry technology demonstrator marked the first of at least 11 flights planned this year by Arianespace to put communications satellites, Earth observatories and research probes into space.

Photos: Russian supply ship blasts off from Kazakhstan

February 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Russia’s Progress M-26M cargo carrier lifted off Tuesday aboard a Soyuz rocket, climbed through clouds and into orbit, then executed an on-time radar-guided docking with the International Space Station six hours later. See photos of the supply ship’s launch.

Dawn’s imagery of Ceres keeps getting better

February 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Images from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on approach to the dwarf planet Ceres show a world pockmarked by craters and mysterious bright spots, and scientists are eager for a better look in the weeks ahead.

Soyuz rocket boosts Russian cargo craft to space station

February 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Russia launched a Progress resupply mission Tuesday heading for the International Space Station with more than 6,000 pounds of fuel, supplies and experiments to support the lab’s six-person crew, and the automated cargo craft sailed to a smooth link-up with the complex less than six hours later.

SpaceX leases property for landing pads at Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg

February 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX plans to set up landing pads on abandoned launch sites at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base in a step toward the company’s vision for eventual recovery and reuse of rocket boosters.

Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

February 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft — six months into its mission at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — made its closest flyby of the comet’s boulder-strewn nucleus Saturday, capturing photos and measurements to help scientists unravel how the duck-shaped body is evolving on its path around the sun.

Articles by Stephen Clark

Engineers finding lessons in nearly flawless Orion test flight

Arianespace on pace for one launch per month in 2015

Photos: Russian supply ship blasts off from Kazakhstan

Dawn’s imagery of Ceres keeps getting better

Soyuz rocket boosts Russian cargo craft to space station

SpaceX leases property for landing pads at Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg

Photos from Rosetta’s Valentine’s Day comet close-up

SES bridges the Atlantic in latest satellite purchase

Progress cargo mission ready for launch to space station

Arianespace edges out SpaceX to launch Korean satellites