SpaceX – Page 164 – Spaceflight Now

Iridium to share Falcon 9 launch with NASA-German gravity satellites

February 6, 2017 Stephen Clark

Iridium has secured a launch for five more of its next-generation communications craft in a rideshare arrangement with two U.S.-German research satellites aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket by early 2018.

SpaceX rocket tagged for reuse test-fired in Texas

February 3, 2017 Stephen Clark

The Falcon 9 first stage booster assigned to launch as soon as March on SpaceX’s first mission with a previously-flown rocket has been test-fired at the company’s development facility in Central Texas.

Station cargo flight leapfrogs commercial satellite launch on SpaceX manifest

January 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX said Sunday that the first Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 39A, a former shuttle-era complex at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is scheduled to send a Dragon supply ship to the International Space Station in mid-February, deferring a mission with an EchoStar communications satellite that was set to take off this month.

SES 10 telecom satellite in Florida for launch on reused SpaceX rocket

January 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

A European-built communications satellite has arrived at Cape Canaveral for fueling and final launch preparations ahead of a planned late February liftoff aboard a Falcon 9 rocket with a previously-flown first stage booster.

Falcon 9 booster, first recovered off West Coast, back in port

January 17, 2017 Stephen Clark

The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched Saturday has returned to port in Southern California after landing on a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean, ready for refurbishment and potential reuse on a future mission.

Fresh views of Saturday’s Falcon 9 rocket launch

January 16, 2017 Stephen Clark

Check out more imagery of Saturday’s liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, including pictures from remote cameras at the launch pad and new video released by the U.S. Air Force.

Photos: Falcon 9 returns to flight with weekend launch from California

January 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

Launching for the first time in four-and-a-half months, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Saturday morning with 10 satellites for Iridium’s space-based message relay network.

Watch as Falcon 9 launches with 10 Iridium satellites and its first stage lands

January 15, 2017 Spaceflight Now

Watch the first SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch since a catastrophic launch pad explosion at Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 first stage was successfully recovered after landing on a floating platform in the Pacific.

SpaceX resumes flights with on-target launch for Iridium

January 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket climbed into orbit from California’s Central Coast on Saturday, resuming service after an explosive setback last year and delivering much-needed reinforcements to Iridium’s satellite constellation providing communications by land, sea and sky.

Skywatchers: Get your Iridium flare fix now

January 14, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of the first batch of new-generation Iridium communications satellites Saturday marked the beginning of the end for the predictable, spectacular flares of reflected sunlight produced by the old-design craft, a favorite of amateur skywatchers for nearly two decades.