SpaceX

Hotfire test keeps SpaceX on schedule for weekend launch

September 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

A brief test-firing of a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday morning kept SpaceX on track for a launch Saturday night from Cape Canaveral with a communications satellite to be jointly used by Telesat and APT Satellite of Hong Kong.

Station crew faces busy schedule as commercial crew schedule ramps up

August 31, 2018 William Harwood

An impromptu repair job Thursday appears to have stopped a leak in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station, and the crew was back on its normal schedule Friday carrying out research and making preparations for the arrival of a Japanese cargo ship next month.

Spaceflight preps for first launch of unique orbiting satellite deployers

August 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

Engineers working for Spaceflight, a Seattle-based launch services company, are in the final steps of preparing for the first launch of new robotic free flyers carrying more than 70 small government and commercial satellites into polar orbit later this year aboard a dedicated flight of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX’s astronaut walkway installed on Florida launch pad

August 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

The walkway astronauts will use to board SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule before missions to the International Space Station was added to historic launch pad 39A on Monday.

Watch a time-lapse of the Crew Dragon access arm installation (members only)

August 20, 2018 Spaceflight Now

The access arm that will be used by astronauts boarding SpaceX’s Crew Dragon space capsule was installed on the gantry at launch complex 39A on August 20, 2018.

Crew walkway arrives at launch pad 39A in Florida

August 17, 2018 Stephen Clark

The access arm astronauts will transit when boarding SpaceX’s Crew Dragon commercial capsule has arrived at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA signs off on SpaceX’s “load-and-go” procedure for crew launches

August 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

The NASA manager overseeing development of Boeing and SpaceX’s commercial crew ferry ships says the space agency has approved SpaceX’s proposal to strap in astronauts atop Falcon 9 rockets, then fuel the launchers in the final hour of the countdown as the company does for its uncrewed missions.