News – Page 517 – Spaceflight Now

June 21, 2026

Breaking News

[ June 20, 2026 ] Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Falcon 9
[ June 18, 2026 ] SpaceX launches intelligence-gathering satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office Falcon 9
[ June 17, 2026 ] Arianespace launches its heaviest payload to date with Amazon Leo flight Ariane 6
[ June 16, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 3 Block 2 BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile Falcon 9
[ June 16, 2026 ] Astrobotic showcases Griffin-1 lander ahead of environmental testing in California Mission Reports

Falcon 9 rocket performs static fire test

March 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

Held down by heavy-duty restraints, a Falcon 9 rocket fired up its nine Merlin engines for more than three seconds Thursday evening in a key readiness test before launching with a commercial television broadcast satellite next week.

4K video: Wide-angle view of Falcon 9 hotfire

March 10, 2017 Spaceflight Now

A wide-angle view of the Space X Falcon 9 rocket test firing at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A during final preparations for it scheduled blastoff with the EchoStar 23 communications satellite.

Orion’s parachutes tested under launch abort conditions

March 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

A model of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, in development to loft astronaut crews into deep space, was dropped from a U.S. Air Force cargo plane over Arizona on Wednesday in the latest in a series of tests to verify the capsule’s parachutes are up to the job of safely landing with humans on-board.

Video: Falcon 9 rocket test-fired ahead of EchoStar 23 launch

March 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was test-fired at Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A on Thursday evening, a few days before its scheduled blastoff with the EchoStar 23 communications satellite.

Next Cygnus commercial space freighter christened the S.S. John Glenn

March 9, 2017 Justin Ray

Orbital ATK’s next commercial resupply freighter going to the International Space Station will be named the S.S. John Glenn, paying tribute to the legendary first American to orbit the Earth.

Photos: The S.S. John Glenn freighter readied to launch

March 9, 2017 Justin Ray

The two structural elements of Orbital ATK’s OA-7 Cygnus space freighter were delivered to Kennedy Space Center for final assembly, the packing of cargo and launch to the International Space Station.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled to launch the S.S. John Glenn

March 9, 2017 Justin Ray

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, flying in its basic two-stage configuration with no strap-on solids, was stacked aboard a mobile launch platform at Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility on Feb. 22 and 23 in preparation to send Orbital ATK’s S.S. John Glenn cargo ship into orbit for the International Space Station.

Photos: Vega rocket vaults off launch pad

March 7, 2017 Stephen Clark

Firing off the launch pad with more than a half-million pounds of thrust, a Vega rocket soared into space Monday night from French Guiana with Europe’s Sentinel 2B environmental satellite.

Lightning mapper beams back first views from space

March 7, 2017 Stephen Clark

A sensitive infrared camera mounted on NOAA’s new GOES-16 weather satellite has captured its first astounding images of lightning flashes from a perch more than 22,000 miles out in space.

Blue Origin details new rocket’s capabilities, signs first orbital customer

March 7, 2017 Stephen Clark

Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos revealed new details of his space company’s reusable orbital-class booster Tuesday, releasing an animation illustrating the rocket’s liftoff from Cape Canaveral and announcing a contract with Eutelsat to put a commercial communications satellite on one of the launcher’s first missions.