News – Page 165 – Spaceflight Now

OneWeb not eager to tear up launch contract with Arianespace

March 14, 2022 Stephen Clark

OneWeb working with Arianespace, who owes the satellite internet firm six more Soyuz launches, to find a ride to orbit for more than 200 of its spacecraft left grounded by an embargo on Western payloads flying aboard Russian rockets. But with launch capacity constrained outside of China and SpaceX, a major OneWeb competitor, the commercial satellite internet provider is facing an inevitable delay in completing its constellation.

Astra scrubs return-to-flight launch from Alaska

March 14, 2022 Stephen Clark

Astra engineers identified two problems — an electrical design issue and a software glitch — that prevented a rocket from reaching orbit last month with a suite of NASA-sponsored CubeSats, clearing the way for a return-to-flight mission that could launch from Alaska this week. A launch attempt Monday was scrubbed due to bad weather.

Boeing Starliner test flight next on ULA’s launch schedule

March 11, 2022 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Space Force has postponed a multi-spacecraft mission that was booked to fly on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in April, moving a redo of a test flight for Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule to the front of the line on ULA’s launch schedule.

GOES-T weather satellite resumes orbit-raising after minor snag

March 10, 2022 Stephen Clark

A new NOAA weather satellite that launched from Cape Canaveral last week has resumed orbit-raising after the spacecraft aborted its first major post-launch maneuver, moving toward its operational geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles over the equator.

SpaceX “broomstick” launches 40th Starlink mission

March 9, 2022 Stephen Clark

Another grouping of 48 Starlink internet satellites soared into orbit Wednesday from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, or what SpaceX’s launch director jokingly called an “American broomstick” in a jab at Russian space chief Dmitry Rogozin.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches another Starlink mission

March 9, 2022 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next batch of 48 Starlink internet satellites rode a Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Wednesday. SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 at 8:45 a.m. EST (1345 GMT) from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Iran’s military successfully launches satellite

March 8, 2022 Stephen Clark

U.S. military tracking radars confirmed claims from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Tuesday that the Iranian military placed a small satellite into orbit.

Long March rocket deploys six Chinese internet satellites

March 8, 2022 Stephen Clark

Six demonstration satellites for a future Chinese broadband internet mega-constellation launched March 5 on a Long March 2C rocket.

SpaceX to continue Starlink network deployment with another Falcon 9 launch

March 8, 2022 Stephen Clark

The 40th dedicated launch for SpaceX’s Starlink internet network is set to blast off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, adding 48 more broadband relay nodes to the ever-growing, privately-owned satellite constellation.

War of words between Russian space chief and retired astronaut

March 7, 2022 William Harwood

Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent a U.S.-record 340 days aboard the International Space Station, has taken to Twitter to pass along “real” news to his 5 million followers, many of them in Russia, about the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. In the process, a war of words has broken out between the astronaut and Dmitry Rogozin, director of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.