Mission Reports
News
Mission Reports
Live coverage: SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket
Another set of Starlink Internet satellites launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Powered by a reusable first stage booster making its sixth flight, the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 10:31 a.m. EDT (1431 GMT). Three SkySat Earth-imaging satellites for Planet accompanied SpaceX’s 58 Starlink relay stations into orbit.
Falcon Heavy
Falcon 9
More Starlinks and SkySats ready for launch Tuesday from Cape Canaveral
The last planned batch of high-resolution SkySat commercial Earth-viewing reconnaissance satellites owned by Planet will accompany 58 Starlink broadband relay stations on a climb into orbit Tuesday from Cape Canaveral on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, adding to the world’s two largest commercial satellite fleets.
Ariane 5
Debuting upgrades, Ariane 5 rocket deploys three U.S.-built satellites in orbit
An Ariane 5 rocket delivered a robotic space tug and a pair of commercial communications satellites into orbit Saturday following a fiery blastoff from French Guiana, debuting new upgrades in Arianespace’s first mission since temporarily suspending launch operations earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ariane 5
Live coverage: Ariane 5 rocket launches three satellites from French Guiana
Two weeks after a sensor problem forced a delay, an Ariane 5 rocket blasted off at 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 GMT) Saturday from French Guiana with two commercial communications satellites to cover the United States and Japan, and a Northrop Grumman-built robotic satellite servicing mission designed to link up with another spacecraft in geostationary orbit.
Falcon 9
NASA sets Oct. 23 as target launch date for first operational Crew Dragon mission
The first operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts aboard is set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida no earlier than Oct. 23, following a formal certification review to assess data from the Crew Dragon’s two-man test flight that concluded earlier this month, NASA said Friday.
Mission Reports
Penultimate piece of NASA’s first SLS rocket arrives at Kennedy Space Center
One of the final pieces for the first test flight of NASA’s huge Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket recently arrived at the Kennedy Space Center, joining other elements already at the Florida spaceport awaiting shipment of the SLS core stage once it completes testing at a NASA facility in Mississippi.
Ariane 5
Ariane 5 rocket returns to launch pad for liftoff with commercial satellites
Loaded with three commercial satellites, a European Ariane 5 rocket returned to its launch pad in French Guiana Thursday after a two-week launch delay to resolve a technical issue that forced an abort to a countdown July 31. Arianespace says the mission has been rescheduled for launch Saturday due to unfavorable upper level winds in the forecast for Friday.
Mission Reports