NASA – Page 52 – Spaceflight Now

Timeline for Pegasus XL’s launch with NASA’s ICON satellite

October 9, 2019 Stephen Clark

Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket will take about 11 minutes to place NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite into a roughly 357-mile-high (575-kilometer) orbit after an airborne launch off Florida’s east coast.

Live coverage: NASA’s ICON satellite successfully launched

October 9, 2019 Stephen Clark

After a 24-hour delay due to poor weather, an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket fired into orbit at 9:59 p.m. EDT Thursday (0159 GMT Friday) after release from a carrier jet at an altitude of 39,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral. The Pegasus rocket carried NASA’s ICON satellite into orbit to collect measurements of the ionosphere.

Pegasus rocket ready for airborne launch with NASA scientific satellite

October 8, 2019 Stephen Clark

After a year-long delay to troubleshoot recurring erroneous data signatures from the rudder of Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket, NASA is eager to send a $252 million research satellite into orbit as soon as Thursday night off Florida’s east coast on a mission to probe the ionosphere, a region near the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.

NASA opens competition to build human-rated lunar landers

October 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

Companies have until Nov. 1 to submit proposals to NASA for a human-rated lander that could be ready in time to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface by the end of 2024, and the agency is leaving open the option for contractors to develop a descent craft that would bypass the planned Gateway mini-space station in lunar orbit, at least for the first landing attempt.

NASA may ask SpaceX to extend duration of Crew Dragon test flight

October 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley may spend more time on the International Space Station than originally planned when they ride SpaceX’s new human-rated Dragon spacecraft into orbit on its first crewed test flight, a space agency official said Friday.

First all-female spacewalk on tap later this month

October 4, 2019 William Harwood

After a spacesuit sizing problem prevented an all-female spacewalk earlier this year, astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will get a chance to make history Oct. 21 when they venture outside the International Space Station in the fourth of five excursions to install a new set of solar array batteries, NASA managers announced Friday.

Oceanography satellite ends 11-year mission

October 4, 2019 Stephen Clark

A joint U.S.-European satellite mission that measured rising sea levels for 11 years is ending due to the deteriorating condition of the spacecraft’s power system, officials said Friday.

Hardware arrives in Florida for Crew Dragon in-flight abort test

October 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

Images taken inside SpaceX facilities at Cape Canaveral and released by NASA Thursday show the Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 booster assigned to an in-flight abort test of the new human-rated spaceship later this year, a prerequisite before astronauts climb aboard for a mission to the International Space Station.

Soyuz spacecraft lands in Kazakhstan with three-man crew

October 3, 2019 William Harwood

Leaving six crewmates behind in orbit, a Russian commander, his NASA co-pilot and a first-time flier from the United Arab Emirates undocked from the International Space Station early Thursday, executed a fiery plunge back to Earth and landed safely on the steppe of Kazakhstan.

Live coverage: Three-man crew, including first UAE astronaut, lands in Kazakhstan

October 3, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Russian commander, his NASA co-pilot and the first Emirati to fly in space returned to Earth Thursday with a fiery re-entry inside the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft on the way to an on-target parachute-assisted landing in Kazakhstan at 6:59 a.m. EDT (1059 GMT), a few hours after undocking from the International Space Station.