Mission Reports – Page 81 – Spaceflight Now

Atlas 5 rocket rolls launch pad at Cape Canaveral with two SES comsats

October 3, 2022 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance hauled an Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad Monday at Cape Canaveral on the eve of a planned blastoff with two commercial television broadcasting satellites for SES, owner of one of the largest fleets of geostationary communications spacecraft.

Crew dress rehearsal, rocket test-firing complete at SpaceX launch pad

October 2, 2022 Stephen Clark

SpaceX teams and the four crew members set for blastoff this week to the International Space Station completed dress rehearsals Sunday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, familiarizing the astronauts with their launch day checklist and testing out the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry them into orbit.

NASA rules out launch of Artemis 1 moon rocket before mid-November

October 1, 2022 Stephen Clark

NASA said Friday that officials have ruled out launching the agency’s first giant Space Launch System moon rocket and Orion spacecraft before mid-November, following the rocket’s return to the hangar at Kennedy Space Center for safekeeping from Hurricane Ian.

Preps resume for SpaceX crew launch after Hurricane Ian

October 1, 2022 Stephen Clark

The multinational crew scheduled to ride a SpaceX rocket into orbit Wednesday arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Saturday as ground teams rolled their Falcon 9 booster and Dragon Endurance spacecraft to the launch pad, resuming work suspended earlier in the week as Hurricane Ian moved across Florida.

Firefly reaches orbit in successful demonstration launch from California

October 1, 2022 Stephen Clark

Firefly Aerospace said its privately-developed Alpha small satellite launcher achieved “100% mission success” on a test flight from California early Saturday, adding another provider to the growing roster of commercial companies that have successfully fired a rocket into orbit.

Live coverage: Crew dress rehearsal, SpaceX static fire completed Sunday

October 1, 2022 Stephen Clark

NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Saturday to begin the final few days of launch preparations before they depart on a five-month expedition on the International Space Station. The crew completed a a dress rehearsal Sunday, when they boarded the Dragon spacecraft on launch pad 39A to practice for launch day. SpaceX followed that with a test-firing of the Falcon 9’s main engines at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT).

Live coverage: Firefly launches Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base

September 30, 2022 Stephen Clark

Firefly Aerospace successfully reached orbit with the second test flight of the company’s Alpha small satellite launcher. The Alpha rocket took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:01 a.m. PDT (3:01 a.m. EDT; 0701 GMT) Saturday.

Firefly ready for another try to launch test flight of smallsat rocket

September 29, 2022 Stephen Clark

After a delay of several weeks due to technical issues, bad weather, and a busy launch range, Firefly Aerospace is set to try again early Friday to send its commercial small satellite launcher into orbit on a test flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

Russian Soyuz brings three cosmonauts home from space station

September 29, 2022 William Harwood

Three cosmonauts undocked from the International Space Station Thursday and returned to Earth aboard their Soyuz spacecraft, safely landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to wrap up a 195-day mission.

Live coverage: Russian cosmonauts land in Kazakhstan

September 29, 2022 Stephen Clark

Three Russian cosmonauts rode a Soyuz spacecraft back to Earth Thursday after departing the International Space Station to wrap up 195 days. The Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft carrying cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov undocked from the station at 3:34 a.m. EDT (0734 GMT) and landed at 6:57 a.m. EDT (1057 GMT).