Falcon 9 – Page 77 – Spaceflight Now

Video: Falcon 9 rocket fires engines in pre-launch test (members only)

April 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday at Cape Canaveral, a critical test before liftoff Wednesday with several tons of cargo heading to the International Space Station.

Live coverage: NASA replaces failed power distribution unit on space station

April 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

Flight controllers at NASA’s mission control center in Houston have completed the robotic swap out of a failed power distribution unit outside the International Space Station, clearing a hurdle ahead of Friday’s predawn launch from Cape Canaveral of a SpaceX supply ship.

Carbon-monitoring instrument poised for launch to International Space Station

April 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

A $110 million NASA science instrument twice targeted for cancellation by the Trump administration is set for launch Tuesday inside the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule for delivery to the International Space Station, where it will spend three years charting changing carbon dioxide concentrations in Earth’s atmosphere.

SpaceX likely to move next rocket landing to drone ship

April 23, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is likely to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket set for launch April 30 on a drone ship just off the coast of Cape Canaveral, not at the company’s onshore recovery site as originally planned, after a ground test of the company’s Crew Dragon capsule at the landing pad ended in an explosion Saturday.

SpaceX retrieves Falcon Heavy fairings from sea for reuse on future launch

April 12, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said Thursday that the company’s recovery fleet in the Atlantic Ocean recovered the two halves of the Falcon Heavy’s payload shroud after the heavy-lifter’s second launch from the Kennedy Space Center. Musk said the company plans to reuse the fairing for the first time later this year.

SpaceX crew capsule returns to Earth, paving the way for human launches

March 8, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft closed out a six-day test flight in low Earth orbit Friday with an on-target splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean, and officials hailed the ship’s performance before it flies with astronauts for the first time later this year.

SpaceX crew ship set for Friday re-entry, splashdown

March 7, 2019 William Harwood

Space station astronauts closed hatches to the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft Thursday, setting the stage for undocking early Friday and a fiery unpiloted plunge to splashdown off the coast of Florida. A successful return to Earth will help clear the way for launch of the first piloted test flight of the new ferry ship in the mid-summer timeframe.

Photos: Crew Dragon moves in for first docking

March 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took these pictures of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft as it approached for docking Sunday, a day after launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX, ULA win military contracts, Air Force renames EELV program

March 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance and SpaceX recently won contracts worth $739 million to send six missions into orbit for the U.S. military, and the Air Force has announced a new title for its flagship launcher program, dropping “expendable” from the name in a new era of reusable rockets.

Photos: SpaceX launches crew capsule demonstration flight

March 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, designed to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, fired into orbit on top of a Falcon 9 rocket Saturday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.