Stephen Clark – Page 505 – Spaceflight Now

Astronauts eager to dig in to fresh delivery of supplies, gifts

January 12, 2015 Stephen Clark

Astronauts on the International Space Station are eager to begin unpacking 2.6 tons of supplies and experiments — including a package of belated Christmas gifts — after delivery aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule Monday.

Photos: SpaceX’s rocket landing platform back in port

January 11, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s ocean-going rocket landing pad — dubbed the autonomous spaceport drone ship — is back in port after a Falcon 9 rocket booster crashed on the platform during an experimental flyback maneuver following Saturday’s successful liftoff with supplies for the International Space Station.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from Cape Canaveral

January 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Crowned with a commercial cargo capsule with 5,100 pounds of provisions and experiments, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, sending the Dragon supply ship on a two-day trek to the International Space Station. See photos of the predawn liftoff.

Despite botched landing, a lot went right with SpaceX’s booster flyback

January 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster accomplished a delicate maneuver after a glowing predawn launch from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, autonomously navigating its away to a modified barge the size of a football field hidden in darkness beneath a blanket of low clouds, before it crashed and broke apart.

Dragon successfully launched, rocket recovery demo crash lands

January 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

A commercial Dragon spaceship soared into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Saturday in pursuit of the International Space Station, but the automated craft’s Falcon 9 booster crash landed after flying back to Earth in a daring test of futuristic reusable rocket technologies.

SpaceX cargo rocket ready for another launch attempt

January 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is counting down to liftoff Saturday of a Falcon 9 rocket with a commercial cargo craft heading for the International Space Station after engineers replaced a component in an upper stage steering system that grounded the launcher Tuesday.

Lockheed Martin begins taking apart first flown Orion capsule

January 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Orion spacecraft achieved all but two of 87 demo objectives on its first orbital flight last month, but details on the capsule’s performance will require dismantling the spaceship’s outer skin in a careful procedure designed to keep most of the Orion prototype intact for future testing.

Kepler’s data catalog exceeds 1,000 confirmed planets

January 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

Astronomers culling imagery from NASA’s Kepler space telescope have found eight new worlds around other stars, raising the number of verified discoveries made by Kepler to more than 1,000 planets.

Next Falcon 9 launch attempt pushed back to Saturday

January 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is targeting Saturday for launch of its next space station resupply mission from Cape Canaveral after a problem with an upper stage steering system actuator flared up during a countdown Tuesday.

Photos: Falcon 9 after Tuesday’s aborted countdown

January 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Falcon 9 rocket’s launch attempt Tuesday was called off after SpaceX engineers detected a problem with the launcher’s second stage thrust vector control system. See photos of the 208-foot-tall rocket on its Cape Canaveral launch pad after the scrub.