SpaceX – Page 61 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX successfully deploys 60 Starlink satellites, but loses booster on descent

February 16, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX successfully launched 60 more Starlink internet satellites Monday night from Cape Canaveral, but lost the Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable first stage booster during a landing attempt on a drone ship parked in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX planning launch of two Falcon Heavy missions in summer and fall

February 15, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX plans two Falcon Heavy launches this year for the U.S. Space Force in July and October, and United Launch Alliance has four national security space missions on its 2021 schedule, according to a military spokesperson.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

February 14, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink internet satellites at 10:59 p.m. EST Monday (0359 GMT Tuesday) aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission successfully placed the Starlink payloads into orbit, but the Falcon 9 booster failed during a landing attempt offshore.

Photos: Falcon 9 test-fired before Starlink launch

February 14, 2021 Stephen Clark

SpaceX test-fired nine Merlin engines Saturday before the company’s next launch from Cape Canaveral, clearing a key readiness test before liftoff as soon as Sunday night with 60 more Starlink internet satellites.

SpaceX gearing up for two more Starlink missions within days

February 12, 2021 Stephen Clark

Days after SpaceX opened preorders for Starlink internet service, two more Falcon 9 rockets are set to launch from Florida’s Space Coast as soon as Sunday night and Wednesday morning — weather permitting — to help push the network closer to commercial operations.

NASA decides to launch Europa Clipper on commercial rocket in 2024

February 11, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA has decided to launch the multibillion-dollar Europa Clipper mission — a spacecraft to study a moon of Jupiter with an icy crust covering a liquid water ocean — aboard a commercial heavy-lift rocket in October 2024, and not on the government-owned Space Launch System, officials said Wednesday.

Biden backs Artemis moon program; watchdog says it’ll cost $86 billion

February 10, 2021 Stephen Clark

The Biden administration supports continuing NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts back to the moon, the White House said last week, without stating whether it will back away from the program’s already-in-doubt schedule for a lunar landing by the end of 2024.

SpaceX wins contract to launch first pieces of NASA’s Gateway lunar outpost

February 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

NASA announced Tuesday it has awarded SpaceX a $331 million contract to launch the first two pieces of the Gateway lunar outpost in 2024 using a modified version of the Falcon Heavy rocket to hurl the massive core of the deep space station toward the moon.

Crew Dragon breaks record for longest flight by human-rated U.S. spacecraft

February 9, 2021 Stephen Clark

The SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft that carried four astronauts to the International Space Station in November broke the record Sunday for the longest spaceflight by a U.S. crew vehicle, surpassing the 84-day mark set by an Apollo capsule on the final flight to the Skylab space station in 1974.

Photos: Sixty more Starlinks rocket through moonlit sky over Cape Canaveral

February 8, 2021 Stephen Clark

With another SpaceX rocket poised for launch just a few miles away, a Falcon 9 launcher soared through a moonlit sky over Cape Canaveral on Feb. 4 carrying 60 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit.