News – Page 305 – Spaceflight Now

Firefly confirms fire during first stage test

January 23, 2020 Stephen Clark

Firefly Aerospace confirmed a “test anomaly” resulted in a small fire on a vertical test stand in Central Texas Wednesday evening. The fire occurred during the first attempt at a full-scale qualification test-firing of a first stage for Firefly’s Alpha small satellite launcher.

Boeing backs out of DARPA spaceplane program

January 22, 2020 Stephen Clark

After receiving more than $150 million in U.S. military funding to design and develop a reusable winged spaceplane named Phantom Express, Boeing said Wednesday it is ending its work on the vehicle, effectively killing a program military officials hoped would offer regular, reduced-cost launch opportunities for small satellites.

Atlas 5 for Solar Orbiter launch returns to assembly building for inspections

January 22, 2020 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance moved its next Atlas 5 rocket off its Florida launch pad Wednesday for inspections after a cooling duct unexpectedly disconnected before a planned countdown rehearsal to prepare for liftoff next month with the joint U.S.-European Solar Orbiter mission. The roll back to the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad could delay Solar Orbiter’s liftoff, which was scheduled for Feb. 5

NASA invites public to vote on name for Mars 2020 rover

January 22, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA has announced the nine finalists for the name of the space agency’s next Mars rover — scheduled for launch in July — and invited the public to vote on the candidates before making a final selection in the coming months.

NRO, the U.S. spy satellite agency, preps for first dedicated launch on foreign soil

January 21, 2020 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s first mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, which owns the U.S. government’s fleet of intelligence-gathering satellites, is scheduled to launch from New Zealand as soon as Jan. 30 (U.S. time), officials announced Monday.

SpaceX test-fires rocket for next Starlink mission; launch date under review

January 20, 2020 Stephen Clark

Just one day after a mission from a nearby launch pad, SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Monday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ahead of the company’s next flight. Faced with extreme weather this week in the ocean recovery zone for the Falcon 9’s first stage booster and payload shroud, SpaceX said it was evaluating the best opportunity to launch the Falcon 9 with 60 Starlink broadband satellites.

Photos: Crew Dragon returns to port after in-flight abort test

January 20, 2020 Stephen Clark

Loaded onto a SpaceX recovery ship, the Crew Dragon capsule that performed a successful in-flight abort test Sunday over Florida’s Space Coast pulled into Port Canaveral hours later after being retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean.

Live coverage: Next SpaceX launch expected no earlier than Monday

January 20, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX performed a hold-down test-firing Jan. 20 of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral in preparation for a launch with 60 Starlink broadband satellites, but officials delayed the missions’s planned launch Tuesday due to extreme weather in the downrange recovery zone for the first stage and payload fairing. The next possible launch attempt is expected at 9:49 a.m. EST (1449 GMT) Monday.

Spacewalkers complete another round of solar array battery replacements

January 20, 2020 William Harwood

It took NASA more than 50 years to stage its first all-female spacewalk last October. It took three months before the second on Jan. 15 and just five days more for the third on Monday, a successful six-hour 58-minute excursion to finish installing a set of new solar array batteries aboard the International Space Station.

Photos: SpaceX purposely fails rocket to test crew capsule safety system

January 19, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX simulated an in-flight emergency Sunday to verify the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft has the capability to catapult away from a failing Falcon 9 rocket.