Reusability – Page 34 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Falcon Heavy raised vertical at pad 39A

April 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy, outfitted to produce more thrust than the heavy-lifter’s debut flight last year, was raised vertical at launch pad 39A in Florida on Wednesday ahead of a launch attempt with the Arabsat 6A communications satellite.

Live coverage: Falcon Heavy launches, three boosters land safely

April 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off Thursday with the Arabsat 6A communications satellite. The world’s most powerful operational launcher lifted off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT), and its three first stage boosters landed less than 10 minutes later — two back at Cape Canaveral and one on a drone ship at sea.

Watch the Falcon Heavy fire up its engines

April 5, 2019 Spaceflight Now

The second Falcon Heavy fires its first stage engines as part of a routine pre-flight test for the upcoming launch of the Arabsat 6A communications satellite.

Live coverage: Falcon Heavy launch slips until Wednesday at earliest

April 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

The launch for the second Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has slipped until Wednesday at the earliest. The powerful rocket is due to carry the Arabsat 6A communications satellite into orbit.

Air Force sees upcoming Falcon Heavy launches as key to certifying reused rockets

March 14, 2019 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is gearing up for the first commercial launch of its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket as soon as early April with a communications satellite for Arabsat, and the U.S. Air Force hopes the two side boosters from the Arabsat mission can be safely landed and reused for the military’s first Falcon Heavy mission this summer, an exercise officials said will help certify previously-flown hardware for future national security launches.

SpaceX, ULA win military contracts, Air Force renames EELV program

March 7, 2019 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance and SpaceX recently won contracts worth $739 million to send six missions into orbit for the U.S. military, and the Air Force has announced a new title for its flagship launcher program, dropping “expendable” from the name in a new era of reusable rockets.

Photos: Falcon 9 flight marks Cape Canaveral’s first launch of 2019

February 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

The first launch from Cape Canaveral this year placed into orbit an Indonesian communications satellite, a privately-funded Israeli moon lander, and an experimental space surveillance microsatellite for the U.S. Air Force.

Scorched SpaceX rocket returns to port in Florida, ready to launch a fourth time

February 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

Singed and blackened from three fiery trips to the edge of space and back, a Falcon 9 rocket returned to Cape Canaveral on Sunday after a mission last that week carried the Israeli Beresheet moon lander into orbit, ready for inspections before attempting a fourth — and likely final — launch this spring.

Israeli moon lander hitches ride on SpaceX launch with Indonesian comsat

February 22, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Israeli-built moon lander aiming to become the first privately-funded mission reach another planetary body rocketed away from Cape Canaveral on Thursday night aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, riding piggyback with an Indonesian communications spacecraft and an experimental U.S. Air Force space surveillance microsatellite.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with Israeli moon lander, Indonesian comsat

February 21, 2019 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 8:45 p.m. EST Thursday (0145 GMT Friday) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The commercial launcher, featuring a reused first stage booster flying for the third time, hauled into orbit Indonesia’s Nusantara Satu communications satellite, the Beresheet lunar lander for SpaceIL, and the S5 space surveillance payload for the Air Force Research Laboratory.