Drone Ship – Page 18 – Spaceflight Now

Stressing caution, SpaceX delays commercial satellite launch

May 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX scrubbed a launch Thursday to investigate a “tiny glitch” in an upper stage engine actuator on the company’s Falcon 9 rocket, delaying liftoff from Florida of a Thai communications satellite at least 24 hours.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 launches with Thai satellite and first stage lands at sea

May 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Friday at 5:39 p.m. EDT (2139 GMT). The commercial booster is hauling up the Thaicom 8 television broadcasting satellite from Cape Canaveral. The rocket’s first stage successfully landed on SpaceX’s recovery platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

Timeline for Falcon 9’s launch of the Thaicom 8 satellite

May 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

The Falcon 9 rocket’s fifth flight of the year will take off from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, heaving the Thaicom 8 communications satellite into orbit on an easterly trajectory from Florida’s Space Coast.

Falcon 9 sails through customary preflight engine firing

May 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ignited its nine kerosene-fueled Merlin engines on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Tuesday evening in a critical milestone before liftoff with a commercial Thai communications satellite later in the week.

SpaceX pencils in July for next Falcon 9 landing at Cape Canaveral

May 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

The next chance for SpaceX to return a Falcon 9 booster to landing at Cape Canaveral will come in mid-July, when the company plans to launch a Dragon supply ship to the International Space Station, a company official said Tuesday.

Flown Falcon 9 booster hoisted off landing platform

April 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX rocket technicians offloaded the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket from its landing platform Tuesday, beginning a pioneering test campaign to verify its readiness for another launch later this year.

New views of Falcon 9 landing from on-board SpaceX’s drone ship

April 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has released new photos of last week’s thrilling rocket landing aboard a floating drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, showing the 15-story Falcon 9 first stage slowing to a hover just as it touched down on the platform.

Photos of the Falcon 9’s Friday afternoon flight

April 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on Friday afternoon, sending a Dragon cargo freighter on the way to the International Space Station as the launcher’s first stage booster returned to Earth aboard a floating platform.

Video: Press conference following Falcon launch and landing

April 9, 2016 Justin Ray

NASA and SpaceX hold the post-launch and -landing press conference from Kennedy Space Center on April 8 after the successful flight of the Falcon 9 rocket

SpaceX lands rocket on ocean-going drone ship

April 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster descended under engine power to a floating landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, notching the first-ever rocket landing at sea minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral with a supply ship hauling 3.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station.