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Blustery weather keeps Atlas 5 rocket grounded, SpaceX launch slips to Tuesday
Gusty winds associated with a subtropical low pressure system prevented United Launch Alliance from sending an Atlas 5 rocket into orbit Saturday from Cape Canaveral with the U.S. Air Force's clandestine X-37B spaceplane. ULA plans to try again Sunday, and a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from a nearby pad has been delayed to Tuesday.
Back-to-back launches scheduled from Cape Canaveral this weekend
Working under physical distancing requirements and other precautions against the coronavirus pandemic, range teams at Cape Canaveral are preparing for launches of Atlas 5 and Falcon 9 rockets from neighboring pads this weekend.
VideoSpaceX test-fires Raptor engine on Starship test rocket
A test-firing of a Raptor engine on the latest in a series of Starship test rockets Tuesday night in Texas moved SpaceX closer to performing a low-altitude "hop" to gather data on the vehicle's launch and landing characteristics.
NASA identifies risks in SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander proposal
SpaceX's proposal to land astronauts on the moon using the company's reusable Starship vehicle could be "game-changing" for space exploration, but comes with risks and complexity that "threaten the schedule viability" to achieve NASA's goal of returning crews moon by the end of 2024, agency officials said.
Companies release new details on human-rated lunar lander concepts
The next time astronauts land on the moon, they will ride to the lunar surface in a spacecraft that looks a lot different than the Apollo-era landing module last used in 1972. Lander concepts proposed by SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics -- which won a combined $967 million in NASA funding Thursday -- take wildly different approaches to carrying crews to the moon.
Blue Origin wins lion’s share of NASA funding for human-rated lunar lander
NASA has selected Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX to move forward with development of human-rated lunar landers, committing nearly $1 billion in funding for a range of moonship concepts that include a variant of SpaceX's next-generation Starship vehicle, officials announced Thursday.
SpaceX to debut satellite-dimming sunshade on Starlink launch next month
A new sunshade, or visor, designed to reduce the brightness of SpaceX's Starlink broadband Internet satellites will debut on the company's next launch, a measure intended to alleviate astronomers' concerns about impacts on observations through ground-based telescopes, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Monday.
Next GPS launch delayed by coronavirus concerns; X-37B launch remains on track
U.S. military officials said Tuesday the launch of the next satellite for the GPS navigation network -- planned for April 29 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket -- has been delayed to no earlier than June 30 to avoid exposing launch crews to the COVID-19 viral disease. However, the next launch of the military's X-37B spaceplane remains on track for liftoff in May on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, officials said.
Space companies rally to supply medical equipment amid pandemic
While production of rockets and satellites continues across much of the space industry amid the coronavirus pandemic, engineers at several space companies -- including SpaceX, Virgin Orbit and Blue Origin -- have started working on medical devices and protective equipment in response to shortages in hospitals across the United States.
Military officials committed to keeping Cape Canaveral open for launches
The military-run Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral remains ready to support upcoming launches — including an Atlas 5 flight Thursday — amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said Tuesday.