News – Page 389 – Spaceflight Now

Indonesian communications satellite deployed in orbit by SpaceX

August 7, 2018 Stephen Clark

Keeping up a run of middle-of-the-night launches from Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket powered by a recycled first stage booster climbed into orbit early Tuesday with the Indonesian Merah Putih communications satellite.

Falcon 9 launch timeline with Merah Putih

August 6, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the Merah Putih communications satellite into orbit around 32 minutes later.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral

August 6, 2018 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, flying with a first stage booster that was previously launched and recovered in May, lifted from Cape Canaveral at 1:18 a.m. EDT (0518 GMT) Tuesday with Indonesia’s Merah Putih communications satellite. The first stage accomplished a pinpoint landing on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX set to re-fly first Falcon 9 Block 5 booster Tuesday

August 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

Forecasters expect good weather on Florida’s Space Coast for liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday with an Indonesian communications satellite.

SpaceX cargo capsule comes back to Earth from space station

August 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

A commercial Dragon cargo craft launched June 29 departed the International Space Station and returned to Earth on Friday with nearly two tons of cargo and research samples.

NASA reveals crews for first flights of commercial spaceships

August 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA announced Friday a mix of spaceflight veterans and rookie astronauts who will launch on the first flights of new Boeing and SpaceX commercial spaceships starting as soon as next spring, several months later than previously scheduled.

SpaceX conducts hotfire test for another middle-of-the-night launch

August 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

Gearing up for the third Falcon 9 launch in less than two-and-a-half weeks, SpaceX fired up a rocket booster at Cape Canaveral on Thursday ahead of an early morning launch Tuesday with an Indonesian communications satellite.

Photos: Astronauts trained in emergency procedures at Atlas 5 launch pad

August 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

Several NASA astronauts, plus Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson, recently participated in a training session at Cape Canaveral, practicing how they would evacuate from the Atlas 5 rocket’s launch pad in the event of a countdown emergency.

NASA’s last shuttle commander to helm test flight of Boeing crew capsule

August 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s last space shuttle commander — former U.S. Navy fighter pilot Chris Ferguson — will fly Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule on its first piloted test mission to the International Space Station next year.

Boeing delays crew capsule test flights after abort engine problem

August 1, 2018 Stephen Clark

Boeing has reshuffled a sequence of test flights planned for the company’s CST-100 Starliner capsule after stuck valves inside a test version of the ship’s service module caused a fuel spill in June, delaying the commercial spacecraft’s first unpiloted orbital demo mission until late this year or early 2019, and moving back the first crew launch to mid-2019, a company official said Wednesday.