Falcon 9 – Page 132 – 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.

Photos: SpaceX prepares to launch 25th Falcon 9 rocket

May 26, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Thai communications satellite is fastened to the top of SpaceX’s 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket for launch Thursday. See photos of the Falcon 9 and Thaicom 8 being prepared for liftoff.

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.

Companies offer fresh perspectives on recent rocket landings

May 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

In case the the sight of a large rocket plummeting back to Earth, only to be slowed in the last seconds by a puff of thrust, hasn’t lost its novelty yet, SpaceX and Blue Origin have released dramatic videos showing their recent powered rocket landings from new angles.

Photos: Falcon 9 streaks into space, lands on drone ship

May 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX achieved a double success Friday with the launch of a Japanese communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, followed minutes later by the touchdown of the Falcon 9 rocket’s 15-story first stage booster on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Falcon 9 succeeds in middle-of-the-night launch and landing

May 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Japanese communications satellite rode a Falcon 9 rocket into space from Cape Canaveral early Friday, reaching an on-target orbit as the launcher’s first stage booster nailed a high-speed landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean, logging another achievement for SpaceX’s cost-cutting reuse initiative.

Photos: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 on the pad at Cape Canaveral

May 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Crowned with a Japanese telecommunications satellite, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sits atop its Cape Canaveral launch pad hours before its scheduled blastoff Friday.