Mission Reports – Page 69 – Spaceflight Now

Construction of Chinese space station enters final phase with module launch

November 1, 2022 Stephen Clark

China launched a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket Monday with the Mengtian lab module, the final major element to complete the initial assembly and outfitting of the Chinese Tiangong space station. The lab module docked with the space station complex 13 hours later.

Falcon Heavy rocket on the launch pad for one of SpaceX’s most complex missions

October 31, 2022 Stephen Clark

The first Falcon Heavy rocket flight since 2019 is scheduled Tuesday to kick off SpaceX’s longest-duration launch mission to date, a roughly six-hour climb into geosynchronous orbit more than 20,000 miles over the equator with a bundle of payloads for the U.S. Space Force. The powerful rocket’s two reusable side boosters will return to Cape Canaveral for landing.

Final Atlas 5 launch from California delayed for battery replacement

October 31, 2022 Stephen Clark

The final flight of an Atlas 5 rocket from California has been delayed from Tuesday until no earlier than Nov. 9 to replace a battery on the launcher’s Centaur upper stage, United Launch Alliance and NASA officials said.

NASA sets October 2023 launch date for Psyche asteroid mission

October 31, 2022 Stephen Clark

NASA says the Psyche mission, a robotic asteroid explorer that missed a launch opportunity this year due to software testing problems, has been rescheduled for liftoff from Florida in October 2023 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy test-fired on launch pad in Florida

October 28, 2022 Stephen Clark

SpaceX fired up 27 engines on a Falcon Heavy rocket Thursday night at Kennedy Space Center, sending a rumble across the spaceport in a hold-down test-firing before a launch next week for the U.S. Space Force.

SpaceX adds 53 more Starlink satellites to internet constellation

October 28, 2022 Stephen Clark

SpaceX fired a Falcon 9 rocket off a launching stand in California at sunset Thursday, producing a twilight sky show visible as far away as Texas as the mission delivered 53 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit.

Russian cargo ship docks at space station

October 28, 2022 Stephen Clark

Russia’s Progress MS-21 resupply spacecraft completed an automated docking with the International Space Station Thursday to deliver more than 2.7 tons of cargo to the lab’s seven-person crew.

Live coverage: More Starlink satellites launched from California

October 27, 2022 Stephen Clark

SpaceX sent another batch of 53 Starlink internet satellites into orbit Thursday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 6:14 p.m. PDT (9:14 p.m. EDT; 0114 GMT).

Live coverage: SpaceX test-fires Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Center

October 25, 2022 Stephen Clark

SpaceX rolled its fourth Falcon Heavy rocket to the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center Tuesday night and raised it vertical early Thursday in preparation for a test-firing of its 27 main engines. The static fire test occurred at 8 p.m. EDT Thursday (0000 GMT Friday) in a precursor to the scheduled launch of the Falcon Heavy on a U.S. Space Force satellite delivery mission Nov. 1.

Russian cargo ship launches on flight to space station

October 25, 2022 Stephen Clark

Russia launched a Progress supply freighter Tuesday on a two-day trek to the International Space Station to deliver 5,556 pounds of cargo, fuel, water, and nitrogen to the orbiting research laboratory. A Soyuz booster launched the Progress cargo ship from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.