News – Page 118 – Spaceflight Now

NASA’s Juno spacecraft captures closest views of Europa since 2000

October 20, 2022 Stephen Clark

Continuing to gather bonus science data in an extended mission around Jupiter, NASA’s Juno spacecraft recorded sharp views of the icy moon Europa Sept. 29 as the solar-powered probe raced by at a relative velocity of nearly 53,000 mph.

Another batch of Starlink satellites launch from Cape Canaveral

October 20, 2022 Stephen Clark

Fifty-four Starlink internet satellites fastened to a Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral, continuing SpaceX’s deployments for a broadband network reaching into an ever-expanding market linking rural households, ships, commercial airplanes, and Ukrainian military forces in their fight against Russia.

Russia launches three satellite deployment missions in one week

October 18, 2022 Stephen Clark

All three of Russia’s major rockets — the Soyuz, Proton, and Angara — launched last week on missions to deploy a Russian navigation satellite, an Angolan communications spacecraft, and a top secret military spy payload.

Failure of Japan’s Epsilon rocket blamed on attitude control system

October 18, 2022 Stephen Clark

Engineers investigating the Oct. 12 launch failure of a Japanese Epsilon rocket have traced the problem to the attitude control system on the second stage, Japan’s space agency said Tuesday.

SpaceX launches European TV broadcasting satellite

October 15, 2022 Stephen Clark

An Airbus-built communications satellite rocketed into orbit early Saturday from Cape Canaveral on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher, bound for a high-altitude perch in geostationary orbit to beam hundreds of TV and radio channels to Eutelsat customers across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

SpaceX Crew Dragon returns to Earth with on-target splashdown

October 14, 2022 William Harwood

Three NASA astronauts and a European flier boarded their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Friday, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean east of Jacksonville to close out a 170-day mission.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches Eutelsat TV broadcasting satellite

October 14, 2022 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off 1:22 a.m. EDT (0522 GMT) Saturday with Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F television broadcasting satellite. The marked the 100th launch by SpaceX from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

SpaceX launch to deploy first in new generation of Airbus-built satellites

October 14, 2022 Stephen Clark

The first in a new line of Airbus-built communications satellites is stowed for launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Friday night from Cape Canaveral, ready for a mission to beam hundreds of TV channels to Eutelsat customers across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Live coverage: Crew-4 astronauts depart space station, return to Earth

October 14, 2022 Stephen Clark

Three NASA astronauts and the outgoing European commander of the International Space Station departed the orbiting complex and headed for Earth on Friday aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom spacecraft. Undocking from the space station occurred at 12:05 p.m. EDT (1605 GMT). A parachute-assisted splashdown off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, followed nearly five hours later 4:55 p.m. EDT (2055 GMT).

NASA targets Nov. 14 for next Artemis launch attempt

October 13, 2022 Stephen Clark

The next launch attempt for the NASA’s Artemis 1 moon rocket is scheduled just after midnight Nov. 14 after a hydrogen leak and Hurricane Ian thwarted tries to launch the unpiloted test flight to the moon in August and September, space agency officials announced this week.