News – Page 180 – Spaceflight Now

Antares launch timeline on the NG-16 mission

August 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket will deliver a Cygnus supply ship into orbit Tuesday to begin a pursuit of the International Space Station.

Live coverage: Northrop Grumman cargo ship arrives at space station

August 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship has arrived at the International Space Station with more than 8,000 pounds of supplies and experiments. The space station’s robotic arm captured the supply craft at 6:07 a.m. EDT (1007 GMT) Thursday.

Boeing continues Starliner valve troubleshooting

August 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

Boeing engineers at Cape Canaveral continue troubleshooting stuck valves in the propulsion system of the company’s Starliner crew capsule in hopes of resolving the problem — and understanding what caused it — in time to take off on an unpiloted test flight before the current launch window closes later this month.

Antares rocket ready for launch on space station resupply mission

August 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

Northrop Grumman packed last-minute cargo into a commercial Cygnus supply ship Monday on a launch pad in Virginia, putting the finishing touches on a spacecraft set for liftoff Tuesday atop an Antares rocket on a mission to the International Space Station.

Fully stacked Starship caps busy week at SpaceX’s Texas rocket yard

August 8, 2021 Stephen Clark

Last week’s progress at SpaceX’s Starship development site culminated with the spectacular, but brief, sight of a fully-stacked launcher towering nearly 400 feet above the tidal flats of South Texas.

Virgin Galactic re-opens ticket sales, first commercial flight slips to late ’22

August 5, 2021 William Harwood

Virgin Galactic, buoyed by a successful July 11 suborbital test flight with founder Richard Branson on the company’s winged rocket plane, re-opened ticket sales Thursday for rides to space starting at $450,000 per seat.

Keeping up busy launch schedule, China launches military telecom satellite

August 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

China launched a communications satellite likely designed for use by the Chinese military Thursday, keeping up a busy schedule of space missions with the country’s fourth orbital launch attempt in barely a week.

Boeing’s Starliner capsule returns to hangar for valve troubleshooting

August 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

Ground teams at Cape Canaveral wheeled Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket back inside their assembly hangar Thursday for further troubleshooting of misbehaving valves inside the Starliner propulsion system. Without a quick fix, technicians will have to remove the spacecraft from the Atlas 5 rocket for more extensive work, potentially delaying the Starliner test flight by months.

Chinese rocket launches two small satellites to test communications tech

August 5, 2021 Stephen Clark

A Chinese rocket successfully launched Wednesday with a pair of small communications satellites reportedly linked to a secretive German company. The Chinese institute that built the satellites said they will test laser communications and electric thruster technologies.

Chinese commercial launcher fails during climb to orbit

August 3, 2021 Stephen Clark

The launch of a solid-fueled rocket developed by the Chinese commercial space firm iSpace failed Tuesday, the second launch failure in three orbital attempts by the startup company, Chinese state media said.