News – Page 313 – Spaceflight Now

Boeing identifies cause of chute malfunction, preps for Starliner launch

November 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing specialists working inside a former space shuttle hangar in Florida started fueling the company’s first spaceflight-ready Starliner capsule this week ahead of the ship’s rollout to its launch pad later this month. The fueling milestone is a major step in the Starliner launch campaign, and comes after engineers concluded that human error led to a parachute deployment malfunction during a crew capsule abort test Monday.

Video: New view of Starliner pad abort test

November 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing has released a new video of the company’s Nov. 4 pad abort test demonstrating the Starliner crew capsule’s ability to escape a launch emergency.

Photos: Starliner crew capsule performs pad abort test

November 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

Boeing conducted a critical test of the launch abort system of the company’s Starliner crew capsule Nov. 4 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Photos: Antares rocket lifts offs on space station cargo mission

November 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

A two-stage Northrop Grumman Antares booster lifted off Nov. 2 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with a Cygnus cargo freighter on the way to the International Space Station.

ULA begins stacking unique Atlas 5 rocket for Starliner test flight

November 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

The stacking of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket this week at Cape Canaveral signals the start of a busy six-week campaign to ready ULA’s trusty workhorse launcher for its debut in a new human-rated configuration in mid-December.

SpaceX to reuse payload fairing for first time on Nov. 11 launch

November 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX launch set for Nov. 11 will mark the first Falcon 9 mission to use a payload fairing from a previous flight, the company announced Tuesday, shortly after SpaceX engineers at Cape Canaveral test-fired the mission’s first stage booster, also refurbished and reused.

Watch the static fire of the Falcon 9 being readied for Starlink mission

November 5, 2019 Spaceflight Now

A Falcon 9 rocket fires its nine Merlin first stage engines at Cape Canaveral’s launch pad 40 Nov. 5, 2019, as part of a routine pre-launch test. The successful static fire clears the way for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites, currently scheduled for Nov. 11.

Live coverage: SpaceX test-fires Falcon 9 rocket for Starlink launch

November 5, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday at Cape Canaveral for the company’s next launch, which is set for takeoff Monday at around 9:56 a.m. EST (1456 GMT). The rocket will launch with the next batch of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites, the company’s first launch since early August. There is an 80 percent chance of favorable weather for launch Monday.

Another Beidou satellite launched by China

November 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket successfully carried a new Beidou navigation satellite into orbit Monday, continuing a brisk launch cadence at the country’s launch sites.

Space station receives spacewalking gear, new baking oven

November 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA astronaut Jessica Meir took control of the International Space Station’s Canadian-built robot arm Monday to capture a Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship carrying crew provisions, spacewalking gear to repair an aging particle physics experiment, tech demo satellites for the U.S. military, and an oven to bake the first cookies in space.