Falcon 9
Mission Reports
Artemis
NASA delays SLS tanking test, next launch opportunity
NASA said Monday it is now targeting Wednesday, Sept. 21, for a critical fueling test on the Space Launch System moon rocket, which could allow for another attempt to launch the unpiloted Artemis 1 lunar test flight as soon as Sept. 27, assuming engineers find no problems and the Space Force approves an extension for the rocket’s range safety system. The updated schedule is a four-day delay for the SLS tanking test and next launch opportunity.
Mission Reports
Mission Reports
Ground teams trying to regain control of scouting satellite for NASA’s Artemis moon program
Ground teams will try to stabilize the motion of NASA’s small CAPSTONE scouting satellite and rescue the $30 million mission on the way to the moon, following a problem Sept. 8 that sent the spacecraft into a tumble and caused controllers to temporarily lose contact with the probe, officials said Monday.
Mission Reports
Blue Origin capsule escapes rocket failure on uncrewed flight over Texas
The suborbital rocket developed by Jeff Bezos’s space company Blue Origin suffered its first launch failure Monday, when the main engine on the New Shepard booster appeared to cut out about a minute after liftoff from West Texas. The crew capsule, which carried NASA-funded experiments but no people, safely landed under parachutes after firing an abort motor to escape the stricken booster.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: Firefly scrubs launch attempt due to high winds
Firefly Aerospace scrubbed a launch attempt Monday for its second Alpha rocket due to high winds at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The company called off an earlier launch attempt Sunday to examine a drop in helium supply pressure on the second stage. The next try to launch the Alpha rocket will be no earlier than Sept. 19.
Mission Reports
Photos: Firefly’s second Alpha rocket raised on launch pad
These photos show Firefly Aerospace’s second Alpha rocket as it was raised on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 10, and again on Sept. 12 after the first launch attempt for the mission. Photographers captured these views as Firefly prepared the rocket for a planned test flight carrying seven small satellites into orbit.
Falcon 9
SpaceX launches fleet-leading booster on 14th flight
A reusable SpaceX Falcon 9 booster completed its record-breaking 14th flight to space after blastoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Saturday night. The mission was billed as one of SpaceX’s complex launches to date, deploying 34 Starlink internet spacecraft and a testbed satellite for AST SpaceMobile’s space-based cellular broadband network into two different orbits.
Mission Reports
Falcon 9