NASA – Page 73 – Spaceflight Now

Russia to launch science mission probing dark energy

June 20, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Russian-built satellite hosting an array of X-ray telescopes is awaiting launch Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a mission to measure the mass and distance of colossal clusters of galaxies throughout the universe.

Watch a 4K video replay of Falcon Heavy’s static fire test (members only)

June 20, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX test-fired a Falcon Heavy rocket Wednesday night at the Kennedy Space Center in preparation for launch June 24 with a stack of weather observation and technology demonstration satellites.

Watch time-lapse of Falcon Heavy going upright (members only)

June 19, 2019 Spaceflight Now

In this time-lapse video, a Falcon Heavy rocket is lifted into position atop launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in readiness for a pre-flight test firing of its 27 Merlin main engines.

10 years since its launch, NASA lunar orbiter remains crucial for moon landings

June 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

Scientists marked the 10th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter on Tuesday, celebrating a mission that has greatly outlived its original one-year design life and continues taking high-resolution pictures to help U.S. companies and international space agencies select destinations for moon landers.

Live coverage: Falcon Heavy engines test-fired for launch next week

June 18, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy launch for the U.S. Air Force took a major step closer to liftoff with a hold-down engine firing Wednesday night at launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff with a cluster of experimental satellites and weather monitoring craft is set for June 24.

Bigelow announces plans for private astronaut flights to space station

June 14, 2019 Stephen Clark

Bigelow Space Operations says it will charge $52 million per seat to send private astronauts to the International Space Station aboard Crew Dragon ferry ships, and has already paid “substantial sums” to SpaceX for up to four dedicated crew missions to the orbiting research complex.

First Falcon Heavy night launch slips to June 24

June 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

The first nighttime launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, and the first Falcon Heavy flight for the U.S. military, is set for no earlier than June 24 from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Air Force officials said Friday.

Trump criticizes NASA over his own administration’s moon program

June 7, 2019 William Harwood

In a head-spinning tweet, President Trump blasted NASA on Friday for its plan to return to the moon, a plan set in motion during a 2017 White House ceremony he presided over, and forcefully endorsed in March on the president’s behalf by Vice President Mike Pence, chairman of the revitalized National Space Council.

NASA unveils plans to commercialize low Earth orbit

June 7, 2019 William Harwood

NASA unveiled an ambitious program Friday to commercialize low-Earth orbit, making way for product development and even advertising aboard the International Space Station, month-long visits by company astronauts starting as early as next year and use of a station docking port for privately financed research-and-development modules.

Scientists call on InSight’s robotic arm to assist stalled heat probe on Mars

June 6, 2019 Stephen Clark

Later this month, ground teams will send commands for the InSight lander on Mars to use its robotic arm in a series of carefully-choreographed movements to help inspect, and potentially assist, one of the mission’s main geologic instruments that stalled as it hammered into the Red Planet’s crust earlier this year.