Astrophysics – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

Video: Falcon 9 stands at the launch pad

April 17, 2018

The Falcon 9 rocket stands on launch complex 40 on 16 April as SpaceX prepares to launch NASA’s TESS spacecraft on a mission to seek out new planets beyond our Solar System.

Video: Mission officials brief reporters on TESS launch

April 16, 2018

Officials from NASA, research institutions and companies involved in the development and launch of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite briefed reporters in the mission Sunday, the day before its scheduled liftoff from Cape Canaveral.

Falcon 9 launch timeline with TESS

April 16, 2018

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, heading east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite into orbit approximately 49 minutes after launch.

Photos: TESS prepared for launch in Florida

April 16, 2018

These photos show NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite undergoing preparations for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX poised to launch planet-hunter

April 16, 2018

SpaceX readied a Falcon 9 rocket for takeoff Monday to launch a planet-hunting satellite for NASA that will monitor the light from countless stars to find potentially habitable planets worthy of follow-up studies by more powerful ground- and space-based observatories.

Live coverage: NASA planet-hunting satellite launched by SpaceX

April 16, 2018

SpaceX and NASA launched a planet-hunting satellite Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, two days after calling off a launch attempt to conduct additional guidance, navigation and control analyses. Liftoff occurred at 6:51 p.m. EDT (2251 GMT), and the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Q&A with Sara Seager, deputy director of science on NASA’s TESS mission (members only)

April 15, 2018

Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT, and she serves as deputy science director on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, which aims to find planets around stars relatively close to the sun, searching for worlds that are ideal follow-up targets for missions like the James Webb Space Telescope.

Q&A with George Ricker, principal investigator for the TESS mission (members only)

April 14, 2018

George Ricker, an astronomer and pioneer in space imaging sensor ships at MIT, leads the science team for NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

SpaceX rocket test-fired at Cape Canaveral for NASA telescope launch

April 11, 2018

SpaceX’s launch team loaded super-chilled liquid propellants into a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday and fired the booster’s nine first stage engines at Cape Canaveral, marching toward liftoff Monday with a NASA observatory built to find planets around other stars in our galactic neighborhood.

Webb telescope’s launch delayed until 2020

March 27, 2018

Blaming a slew of technical snags and “avoidable errors,” NASA officials said Tuesday that the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, already years behind schedule, will be delayed to 2020, potentially pushing the mission’s development cost above an $8 billion cap mandated by Congress.