NASA – Page 15 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX accomplishes first soft splashdown of Starship, Super Heavy Booster on Flight 4 mission

June 6, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The development mission includes fewer additional mission milestones compared to the third flight with a focus on demonstrating the reusability model that Starship promises. Liftoff happened at 7:50 a.m. CDT (8:50 a.m. EDT, 1250 UTC), near the opening of a 120-minute window.

Third time’s the charm for the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test

June 5, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The launch of two NASA astronauts dealt with two previous scrubs due to a valve issue on the Atlas 5 rocket and then a ground system issue at the launchpad. Liftoff happened at 10:52 a.m. EDT (1452 UTC) on Wednesday, June 5.

Despite gyro failure, NASA says Hubble Space Telescope still up to world-class science

June 5, 2024 William Harwood

Trouble with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s three remaining gyroscopes, critical for aiming and locking onto targets, prompted mission managers to switch to a backup control mode that will limit some observations but keep the iconic observatory running well into the 2030s, officials said Tuesday.

News from the Press Site: Business of Starlink and Boeing’s Starliner prepares to launch – News from the Press Site

May 31, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

In this week’s edition of News from the Press Site, Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Mike Wall, Spaceflight and Tech Editor for Space.com; and Caleb Henry, Director of Research at Quilty Space.

SpaceX details learnings from Starship Flight 3, sets June 5 as target launch date for Flight 4

May 25, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The mission will focus on proving the reusability of the rocket and not on additional flight objectives, like operating the payload bay door or reigniting the vacuum engines on the Ship upper stage. The June 5 launch window opens at 7 a.m. CDT (8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC).

Rocket Lab launches first of NASA’s climate-monitoring PREFIRE spacecraft

May 24, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The two missions will be launched within roughly three weeks of one another from New Zealand. Liftoff of the Electron rocket with the PREFIRE-1 satellite occurred at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT, 0741 UTC) on Saturday.

NASA, Boeing further delay Starliner Crew Flight Test launch amid ongoing helium leak review

May 17, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

The shift in launch date is to allow more time to build in redundancy to account for the helium leak. The launch is currently scheduled for no earlier than Saturday, May 25, at 3:09 p.m. EDT (1909 UTC).

Atlas 5 valve repair will delay Starliner’s first crewed mission to May 17 at the earliest

May 8, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is set to roll its Atlas 5 rocket and the Starliner spacecraft back to the Vertical Integration Facility on Wednesday to begin working on the problematic valve. The new launch date is no earlier than Friday, May 17, at 6:16 p.m. EDT (2016 UTC).

News from the Press Site: Boeing Starliner gets go ahead for Crew Flight Test

April 27, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

In this week’s edition of News from the Press Site, Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Tariq Malik, editor-in-chief of Space.com, and Passant Rabie, space reporter for Gizmodo.

NASA astronauts arrive at Kennedy Space Center ahead of Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test

April 25, 2024 Will Robinson-Smith

Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams arrived at the Cape in T-38 jets, the first such arrival since the space shuttle era. The mission is aiming to launch on Monday, May 6, at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 UTC).