Reusability – Page 68 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX lands rocket on ocean-going drone ship

April 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster descended under engine power to a floating landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday, notching the first-ever rocket landing at sea minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral with a supply ship hauling 3.5 tons of cargo to the International Space Station.

Video: Falcon 9 rocket’s flight from liftoff to orbit

April 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

This video replay shows the Falcon 9 rocket’s flight from liftoff until deployment of the Dragon supply ship, including the dramatic touchdown on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Video: SpaceX lands rocket on drone ship for first time

April 8, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster steered toward a first-ever landing on a drone ship floating 185 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean minutes after blasting off from Florida with a space station cargo ship.

SpaceX ready to return to the space station

April 7, 2016 Stephen Clark

Ground crews loaded time-critical experiments, including 20 mice to help scientists study muscle atrophy, into SpaceX’s commercial Dragon cargo capsule Thursday, a day before a launch planned from Cape Canaveral toward the International Space Station.

SpaceX hopes to sell used Falcon 9 boosters for as low as $40 million

March 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX intends to cut the price of a Falcon 9 rocket launch by up to 30 percent when flying with reused first stage boosters, an achievement the company still hopes to demonstrate before the end of the year, SpaceX’s president said recently.

TV broadcasting satellite finally launched on Falcon 9

March 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

Powering off the planet just after sunset Friday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral with the multi-mission SES 9 communications satellite to link millions of homes, businesses, ships and airplanes across the Asia-Pacific.

Commercial Falcon 9 launch delayed to Thursday

February 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX called off the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday to make sure the booster’s supply of super-chilled cryogenic liquid oxygen is cold enough to support the delivery of the 5.8-ton SES 9 commercial communications satellite to an orbit nearly 25,000 miles above Earth.

Live coverage: SpaceX finally launches Falcon 9 rocket

February 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX successfully launched an oft-delayed Falcon 9 rocket mission at 6:35 p.m. EST (2335 GMT) Friday after more than a week of delays caused by issues with super-chilled liquid oxygen propellant, a boat the strayed into restricted waters offshore Cape Canaveral, and extreme upper level winds. The experimental recovery of the first stage on an ocean-going barge was not a success.

Falcon 9 rocket to give SES 9 telecom satellite an extra boost

February 24, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX and SES, owner of a 5.8-ton commercial telecom satellite poised for launch from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, struck a deal to tweak the Falcon 9 rocket’s launch profile to give the SES 9 spacecraft a stronger push toward its operating post more than 22,000 miles above Earth.

SES eager to fly satellite aboard used Falcon 9 rocket

February 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

In one of the strongest public endorsements of SpaceX’s initiative to put a reusable launcher on the commercial market, a top official from satellite communications giant SES said Tuesday that the company wants to fly one of its pricey payloads on a used Falcon 9 rocket, perhaps even without a test flight.