News – Page 488 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: H-2A rocket blasts off with navigation satellite

August 11, 2017 Stephen Clark

Japan’s third navigation satellite rode an H-2A rocket into orbit Saturday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, one week after officials aborted a countdown to resolve a helium leak in the vehicle’s first stage. Liftoff occurred at 0529 GMT (1:29 a.m. EDT) Saturday.

SpaceX performs static fire, preps for Monday launch from Florida

August 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

Set to resume a brisk pace of launch activity after a nearly six-week respite, SpaceX test-fired its next Falcon 9 rocket Thursday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of a planned liftoff Monday with several tons of experiments and supplies for the International Space Station.

4K and HD video replays of SpaceX rocket undergoing static fire test at pad 39A

August 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

In one of its final preflight tests, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ignited at pad 39A in Florida for several seconds Thursday, ramping up to full throttle in an end-to-end checkout of the booster before liftoff next week on a space station resupply flight.

Station-bound instrument to open new chapter in the story of cosmic rays

August 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

Physicists are gearing up to send a re-engineered science instrument originally designed for lofty balloon flights high in Earth’s atmosphere to the International Space Station next week to broaden their knowledge of cosmic rays, subatomic particles traveling on intergalactic routes that could hold the key to unlocking mysteries about supernovas, black holes, pulsars and dark matter.

Live coverage: SpaceX rolls out rocket for static fire

August 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket is being readied for liftoff Aug. 14 on a space station resupply run. The two-stage rocket completed a hold-down engine firing Thursday at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Poor weather forecast delays launch of Japanese navigation satellite

August 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

The Japanese space agency said Wednesday the launch of an H-2A rocket with the country’s third navigation satellite was preemptively delayed at least 24 hours to Saturday to avoid thunderstorms with lightning in the forecast later this week.

AV-074/TDRS-M launch fact sheet

August 9, 2017 Justin Ray

Our comprehensive fact sheet previewing the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket deployment of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M.

New Horizons’ next target might be a binary pair

August 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ground observations of the New Horizons spacecraft’s next target last month revealed the distant object, lurking in the outer solar system more than four billion miles from Earth, might have an unconventional elongated shape, or even consist of two icy bodies orbiting one another in an age-old cosmic dance.

Shuttle-era structure dismantled piece-by-piece at pad 39A

August 5, 2017 Stephen Clark

A heavy-duty crane towering over launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in recent weeks has removed several large sections of a disused structure once needed to install satellites and space station modules into space shuttle cargo bays.

Build-up begins for first Minotaur rocket launch from Cape Canaveral

August 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ground crews at a long-dormant launch pad at Cape Canaveral are stacking surplus military missile motors for the Aug. 25 launch of a Minotaur 4 rocket with a satellite designed to track orbital traffic thousands of miles above Earth.