ISPCS 2015 – Spaceflight Now

Virgin Galactic in transition one year after fatal accident

November 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

Last year’s fatal crash of Virgin Galactic’s suborbital rocket plane has delayed the start of the company’s commercial operations at least a year, prompting a change in mindset from a “period of euphoria to a period of real, measurable, but tough progress” as the enterprise backed by Richard Branson enters the second decade since its founding.

Q&A with George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic

November 1, 2015 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Now recently sat down with George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, to discuss the company’s recovery from a fatal crash of its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane on a test flight last year and get an update on its air-launched rocket designed to carry small satellites into orbit.

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.

Sierra Nevada on watch for critical cargo award

October 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

A prototype of Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser space plane is nearing shipment to California’s Mojave Desert to resume runway landing tests as officials wait for word from NASA whether the company will win a competition to ferry cargo to the International Space Station.

Q&A with Mark Sirangelo, leader of Sierra Nevada Space Systems

October 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

Sierra Nevada Corp. has business activity across a spectrum of programs, from Orbcomm communications satellites to parts on the New Horizons mission to Pluto, but all eyes are now on the company’s Dream Chaser spacecraft. Sierra Nevada’s Mark Sirangelo met with reporters at the 2015 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.

Q&A with Frank Culbertson, president of Orbital ATK’s space systems group

October 8, 2015 Stephen Clark

Frank Culbertson, a former shuttle and station astronaut and now head of Orbital ATK’s space systems group, spoke with Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark on the sidelines of the 2015 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.

Cygnus supply ship takes weather satellite’s slot in Atlas manifest

October 7, 2015 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK plans to launch its next two commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station on Atlas 5 rockets, grabbing a launch slot in March after a next-generation U.S. weather satellite was delayed, industry officials said.