33rd Space Symposium – Spaceflight Now

Weather looks good for Falcon 9 launch Sunday, but payload still a mystery

April 27, 2017 Stephen Clark

An official weather outlook issued by U.S. Air Force meteorologists Thursday calls for partly cloudy skies on Florida’s Space Coast for liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just after sunrise Sunday with a clandestine payload for the U.S. government’s intelligence agencies.

ULA chief says Blue Origin in driver’s seat for Vulcan engine deal

April 18, 2017 Stephen Clark

A full-scale BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, is installed on a test stand in West Texas for a series of hotfire tests that United Launch Alliance will closely examine before settling on the reusable methane-fueled engine for its new-generation Vulcan rocket.

Brexit raises question mark over UK’s role in some European space projects

April 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

The future participation of major segments of Britain’s space industry in Europe’s Galileo navigation system and Copernicus environmental network, two multibillion-dollar flagship programs with dozens of satellites, is sure to be a significant part of negotiations as the UK withdraws from the European Union, according to a member of the European Commission.

Musk wants to make Falcon rockets fully reusable

April 11, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX chief Elon Musk said last week he is “fairly confident” his company’s Falcon rockets can be made fully reusable within a couple of years, suggesting a renewed emphasis on outfitting upper stages for a scorching re-entry after engineers shelved the idea to focus on landing the launcher’s bigger booster stage.

U.S. military orders two more surveillance satellites to roam geosynchronous orbit

April 10, 2017 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK started work on two more surveillance satellites for the U.S. Air Force’s geosynchronous neighborhood watch program late last year as the military aims to expand its ability to track and investigate other objects in the heavily-trafficked belt more than 22,000 miles over the equator.

NASA, Roscosmos open to extending station operations to 2028

April 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

Top officials from NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, could decide soon to commit to keeping the International Space Station staffed and flying through at least 2028, four years after the research lab’s current retirement date.

Videos: Strap in aboard Blue Origin’s suborbital spaceship

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Step inside a prototype of Blue Origin’s crew capsule to get a glimpse of what space tourists will experience when the spaceship begins suborbital flights with passengers in 2018.

Photos: Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster on display

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Scarred from five trips to the edge of space and back, Blue Origin’s privately-developed New Shepard rocket was on vertical display this week at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.

Blue Origin’s staying power bankrolled by Jeff Bezos’s multibillion-dollar investment

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, now the second-richest person in the world, is funding his space company’s lofty ambitions $1 billion per year, driving Blue Origin closer to taking paying passengers to the edge of space and fielding a reusable satellite launcher that will usher in a golden age of space exploration, the billionaire tycoon said Wednesday.

Q&A with Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin

April 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Billionaire Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the surging space company Blue Origin, spoke with reporters at the 33rd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado.