News – Page 456 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Military mini-shuttle transferred to SpaceX launch pad

September 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Cocooned inside the nose cone of its Falcon 9 rocket booster, the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane journeyed from a former space shuttle hangar at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, past the Vehicle Assembly Building and toward launch pad 39A last week ahead of liftoff Thursday.

Next-generation weather satellite shipped to launch base in California

September 6, 2017 Justin Ray

A new weather observatory that will track storms across the globe as it orbits from pole to pole has been trucked to its launch site in California for a long-awaited ascent into space this November.

Last-second launch abort grounds two U.S.-built communications satellites

September 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 countdown in French Guiana was aborted Tuesday with the European-made rocket’s main engine already running, postponing the launch of two commercial communications satellites until engineers can resolve the problem.

Video: Ariane 5 countdown halted after engine start

September 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

Liftoff of an Ariane 5 rocket from a tropical launch pad in South America was halted moments after its main engine ignited Tuesday in a rare last-second abort for the heavy-lift launcher.

Photos: Soyuz MS-04 capsule lands in Kazakhstan

September 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

Three space station crew members came back to Earth last weekend aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule after plunging through the atmosphere and descending under a parachute to a jarring touchdown on the steppes of Kazakhstan. These photos show the capsule’s final descent and the crew’s exit from the spacecraft.

Photos: Ariane 5 rolls to launch pad

September 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

These photos show Monday’s rollout of an Ariane 5 rocket on a 1.7-mile journey to its launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in South America.

Launch timeline for Ariane 5’s flight with Intelsat 37e and BSAT 4a

September 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

An Ariane 5 rocket will fire into the sky from French Guiana just after sunset Tuesday and deliver two payloads to orbit for Intelsat, one of the world’s largest commercial satellite operators, and Broadcasting Satellite System Corp. of Japan.

Live coverage: Ariane 5 launch aborted

September 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of a European Ariane 5 rocket was aborted moments after its main engine ignited Tuesday. The dramatic last-second hold was the first time an Ariane rocket launch was aborted after engine start since March 2011. Arianespace has not set a new target launch date for the mission, which will loft two U.S.-built communications satellites for Intelsat and B-SAT.

Soyuz brings Whitson home after record-setting mission

September 3, 2017 William Harwood

Wrapping up a record-setting flight, Peggy Whitson, America’s most experienced astronaut with nearly two years of time in orbit across three missions, returned to Earth Saturday after a 288-day stay aboard the International Space Station, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan with Soyuz MS-04 commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and flight engineer Jack Fischer.

Live coverage: Soyuz crew capsule departs station, lands in Kazakhstan

September 2, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Russian Soyuz crew ferry craft departed the International Space Station and descended to an on-target landing in Kazakhstan on Saturday with a record-setting NASA astronaut, a veteran Russian cosmonaut and a former U.S. Air Force test pilot on-board. Undocking from the orbiting research complex occurred at 2158 GMT (5:58 p.m. EDT), with touchdown at 0121 GMT (9:21 p.m. EDT).