Blue Origin – Page 8 – Spaceflight Now

Orbital ATK eyes Kennedy Space Center as home of potential new launcher

April 21, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA announced Thursday that Orbital ATK has begun negotiations to lease a disused section of Kennedy Space Center’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building and an Apollo-era launch platform for the company’s proposed next-generation rocket.

Blue Origin launches same New Shepard spacecraft for third time

April 3, 2016 William Harwood

Blue Origin launched its reusable New Shepard suborbital spacecraft on its third test flight Saturday, successfully boosting an unpiloted capsule out of the discernible atmosphere for a few minutes of weightlessness before a parachute descent to the company’s West Texas launch site.

ULA’s candidates to replace RD-180 engine win Air Force funding

March 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

The Pentagon has awarded at least $162 million in contracts to Aerojet Rocketdyne and United Launch Alliance for development of the AR1 and BE-4 rocket engines, candidates to power the first stage of a next-generation rocket and replace the Russian-made engine currently flying on the Atlas 5 launcher.

Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard booster flies again

January 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

Two months after it flew into space and landed smoothly, Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster made the trip again Friday, proving it can be reused for future space tourism jaunts and laying the groundwork for a future commercial satellite launcher, the company said.

Orbital ATK, SpaceX nab U.S. Air Force propulsion contracts

January 14, 2016 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK and SpaceX won Pentagon contracts worth a combined value of up to $241 million Wednesday in public-private partnerships crafted to hasten the U.S. military’s move away from Russian-supplied propulsion to deliver national security satellites to orbit.

SpaceX rocket landing applauded, but experts say implications TBD

December 23, 2015 William Harwood

The successful launch and landing by the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday was a significant step toward achieving reusability and, eventually, lowering launch costs, but turning that success into operational reality poses a significant challenge for company founder Elon Musk.

Round-trip rocket flight gives SpaceX a trifecta of successes

December 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

Flying through the sky at supersonic speed, a Falcon 9 rocket stage descended to a historic landing at Cape Canaveral on Monday, returning to the spaceport minutes after boosting 11 Orbcomm communications satellites toward orbit on SpaceX’s first mission since a major failure in June.

Bezos-backed Blue Origin achieves rocket landing

November 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

A suborbital rocket booster built by Blue Origin, an entrepreneurial space firm founded by Internet tycoon Jeff Bezos, streaked into space in the skies over West Texas and descended to a pinpoint propulsive touchdown on a landing pad, the company announced Tuesday.

Q&A with Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin

November 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the Internet pioneer behind Amazon.com, spoke with reporters Nov. 24 after a historic flight of the company’s suborbital New Shepard launch vehicle that ended with a successful vertical rocket-assisted touchdown at a landing pad in West Texas.

ULA selects launch pads for new Vulcan rocket

October 12, 2015 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan rocket will lift off from the company’s existing Atlas 5 launch facilities in Florida and California, according to the company’s Vulcan program manager.