Launch – Page 190 – Spaceflight Now

Falcon 9 launch timeline with BulgariaSat 1

June 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the BulgariaSat 1 communications satellite into orbit 35 minutes later.

Live coverage: SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket takes off from Florida, lands on ship

June 23, 2017 Stephen Clark

One of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket boosters made its second trip into space Friday, lofting a Bulgarian television broadcasting satellite from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, then landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. Liftoff occurred at 3:10 p.m. EDT (1910 GMT).

Live coverage: India’s PSLV delivers international payloads to orbit

June 22, 2017 Stephen Clark

India launched the 40th Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle mission Friday carrying an Earth observation satellite and 30 secondary payloads from 15 nations. Liftoff occurred at 0359 GMT Friday (11:59 p.m. EDT Thursday).

Head of BulgariaSat says satellite project would be impossible without SpaceX

June 22, 2017 Stephen Clark

On the eve of the launch of his country’s first communications satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket, the chief executive of BulgariaSat credited SpaceX’s cost-cutting ways with making space accessible for small nations and money-conscious companies like his own.

SpaceX rocket passes key preflight test before liftoff from California

June 20, 2017 Stephen Clark

Juggling simultaneous launch campaigns on both coasts, a team of SpaceX engineers put a Falcon 9 rocket through a customary countdown rehearsal and hold-down firing Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California ahead of a scheduled liftoff Sunday.

Chinese broadcasting satellite ends up in wrong orbit after rocket failure

June 19, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ground controllers could try to salvage a Chinese television broadcasting satellite deployed in a lower-than-planned orbit Sunday by a Long March 3B rocket.

Falcon 9 launch delay sets up potential SpaceX ‘doubleheader’ next weekend

June 18, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has pushed back the liftoff of a Bulgarian television broadcast satellite on the company’s second previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket until at least Friday, giving ground crews time to replace a valve on the launcher inside a hangar at its Florida launch pad.

Falcon 9 launch scheduled for Monday after hold-down engine firing

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of a commercial Bulgarian television broadcast satellite from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is set for Monday after SpaceX ran through a mock countdown Thursday and test-fired a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket’s Merlin main engines.

Video: SpaceX’s second reused Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket ignited its nine Merlin main engines for several seconds Thursday at launch pad 39A in Florida, moving the previously-flown booster closer to a scheduled blastoff Monday with a Bulgarian communications satellite.

Chinese astronomy satellite placed into orbit by Long March rocket

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

China’s first X-ray astronomy satellite launched Thursday on a mission to survey the Milky Way galaxy for black holes and pulsars, the remnants left behind after a star burns up its nuclear fuel.