News – Page 97 – Spaceflight Now

Japanese moon lander, NASA hitchhiker payload launched by SpaceX

December 11, 2022 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral early Sunday with a commercial Japanese robotic moon lander and a NASA hitchhiker micro-payload called Lunar Flashlight that will seek out signs of water ice hidden in the permanently dark floors of craters at the moon’s poles.

Orion moonship closes in for Sunday re-entry and splashdown

December 10, 2022 William Harwood

Closing out a 25-day voyage around the moon, NASA’s Artemis 1 spacecraft closed in on Earth Saturday, on track for a 25,000-mph re-entry Sunday that will subject the unpiloted capsule to a hellish 5,000-degree inferno before splashdown off Baja California.

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight hitching ride to moon on SpaceX rocket

December 10, 2022 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Lunar Flashlight spacecraft, a small briefcase-size CubeSat that could break new ground in the search for water ice on the moon, is hitching a ride to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket along with the privately-developed Hakuto-R moon lander after missing a launch opportunity on NASA’s Artemis 1 mission.

Repairs and upgrades await SLS mobile launcher before crewed lunar mission

December 9, 2022 Stephen Clark

The mobile launch platform for NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center Friday for inspections and repairs after liftoff of the Artemis 1 moon mission last month, setting the stage for upgrades to the 380-foot-tall structure before the first crewed Artemis moon flight scheduled for 2024.

SpaceX delivers for rival OneWeb with sunset launch from Kennedy Space Center

December 8, 2022 Stephen Clark

Forty more OneWeb internet satellites rocketed into orbit from Kennedy Space Center at sunset Thursday, the company’s first launch with SpaceX after suspending flights on Russian rockets earlier this year. A senior OneWeb official said the company has booked an extra launch with SpaceX, adding to a contract signed earlier this year.

OneWeb readies for 15th launch, and first with SpaceX

December 7, 2022 Stephen Clark

OneWeb’s broadband network will get a boost from SpaceX, which operates its own internet constellation, with the launch of 40 satellites on top of a Falcon 9 rocket set for Thursday from Kennedy Space Center.

Russia launches two Soyuz rockets on military space missions

December 7, 2022 Stephen Clark

Russia launched two Soyuz rockets Nov. 28 and Nov. 30 from the country’s northern cosmodrome, hauling a Glonass navigation satellite and a military spy satellite into orbit.

Artemis 1 capsule beams back spectacular farewell views of the moon

December 5, 2022 Stephen Clark

Flying just 80 miles off the lunar surface, NASA’s Orion capsule fired its main engine Monday to slingshot around the moon and set a course for splashdown Dec. 11 in the Pacific Ocean to complete the Artemis 1 test flight. The unpiloted spacecraft relayed home ethereal real-time views of the moon’s cratered surface and a crescent Earth suspended in the blackness of space a quarter-million miles away.

Live coverage: Orion spacecraft completes return powered flyby of the moon

December 5, 2022 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Orion spacecraft successfully fired its main engine for three-and-a-half minutes at 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT) Monday as it flew 80 miles from the surface of the moon, redirecting the capsule’s trajectory for the return trip to Earth to wrap up the Artemis 1 test flight.

Chinese crew back on Earth after six months on Tiangong space station

December 4, 2022 Stephen Clark

Three Chinese astronauts landed Sunday after 182 days on China’s Tiangong space station, completing the busiest mission yet for the country’s human spaceflight program. The astronauts performed three spacewalks and assisted in the arrival and outfitting of two new lab modules at the Tiangong outpost.