Falcon 9 – Page 103 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Falcon 9 Block 5 poised for launch at Kennedy Space Center

May 10, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first upgraded Falcon 9 “Block 5” rocket was raised vertical at launch pad 39A early Thursday in preparation for liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center, debuting enhancements aimed at making the booster more reusable and more reliable.

Live coverage: SpaceX launches first upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket

May 10, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launched the first of the company’s upgraded generation of Falcon 9 launchers, known as Block 5, from the Kennedy Space Center on Friday at 4:14 p.m. EDT (2014 GMT). The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off with Bangladesh’s first communications satellite, and SpaceX recovered the rocket’s first stage on a vessel in the Atlantic Ocean.

Live views of launch pad 39A (members only)

May 9, 2018 Spaceflight Now

Watch live views from the Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A as SpaceX prepares for the first flight of the Block 5 Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket is scheduled to launch the Bangabandhu 1 communications satellite no earlier than 10 May.

First launch of enhanced version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 set for Thursday

May 7, 2018 Stephen Clark

The launch of Bangladesh’s first communications satellite on top of a new version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for Thursday, officials said Monday, after a data review following a hold-down engine firing last week.

SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 Block 5 test-fired at pad 39A

May 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s launch team loaded liquid propellants into the company’s first upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and the countdown rehearsal culminated in a brief ignition of the launcher’s nine Merlin main engines on the launch pad.

Time-lapse video: First Falcon 9 Block 5 arrives at pad 39A for hotfire test

May 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, sporting changes to make the booster easier to reuse, rolled out of its hangar and up the ramp to launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday ahead of a planned hold-down engine firing.

Live coverage: Upgraded Falcon 9 rocket test-fired at pad 39A

May 3, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX conducted the first hold-down firing of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 rocket Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in preparation for launch next week with Bangladesh’s first communications satellite.

After “terrific” launch, TESS nears first major orbit-raising burn

April 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS observatory completed its first post-launch thruster firing Saturday, setting up for a big boost Wednesday that will send the spacecraft toward the moon for a flyby next month, the next maneuvers in a two-month process to reach the mission’s final science orbit in mid-June.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with TESS

April 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

Look back on last week’s blastoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

Falcon 9 / TESS launch replays

April 19, 2018 Spaceflight Now

Cameras in various locations at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center capture the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s TESS planet-hunting telescope.