Stephen Clark – Page 514 – Spaceflight Now

China launches for the second time in 24 hours

November 21, 2014 Stephen Clark

A mysterious new Chinese rocket lifted off and put a small satellite several hundred miles above Earth, marking China’s second space launch in less than 24 hours.

Deep Space Climate Observatory arrives at Florida launch site

November 21, 2014 Stephen Clark

A novel NOAA climate observatory with a unique past arrived at Cape Canaveral to begin two months of launch preparations, testing, and fueling before liftoff aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Soyuz ferry craft moved to launch pad

November 21, 2014 Stephen Clark

Riding a specialized railroad car before dawn Friday, a Soyuz rocket rolled out of a cavernous assembly building and arrived at its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for liftoff Sunday with American, Russian and Italian crew members heading for the International Space Station.

Pegasus rocket selected to launch ICON satellite

November 20, 2014 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected an Orbital Sciences Corp. air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to place a small research satellite in orbit in 2017 to study the connection between Earth’s weather and space weather.

Spy satellite launched to serve Chinese government

November 20, 2014 Stephen Clark

A Long March 2D rocket blasted off from a remote space base in northwest China on Thursday and climbed into orbit with a clandestine satellite to collect intelligence for the Chinese government.

UK team announces plan to crowd-source moon mission

November 19, 2014 Stephen Clark

Scientists hope private backers will kick-start a mission to land a robotic probe on the South Pole of the moon within the next 10 years, drill deep into lunar bedrock and analyze primordial core samples to study the origins of the solar system.

Russia’s new heavy-lifter rolled to launch pad

November 19, 2014 Stephen Clark

Several weeks ahead of a planned liftoff in late December, the biggest new Russian rocket to fly in a generation has rolled to its launch pad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia for preflight testing.

3D printer activated aboard the International Space Station

November 18, 2014 Stephen Clark

The dream of a self-sufficient space-faring civilization moved a step closer to reality as a commercial 3D printer was installed aboard the International Space Station for a tryout in orbit.

Philae finds comet harbors organics

November 18, 2014 Stephen Clark

Europe’s Philae lander found a surface as hard as ice and organic molecules after it bounced to a stop on a comet last week.

Chinese military satellite launched by Long March rocket

November 18, 2014 Stephen Clark

China launched a Long March rocket last week with a satellite Western analysts believe will conduct all-weather global radar surveillance for the Chinese military.