SpaceX – Page 154 – Spaceflight Now

First two Iridium Next satellites shipped to Vandenberg

August 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

The first two next-generation Iridium satellites, designed to connect global subscribers with data and voice traffic, arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday, where they will join eight more message relay craft for launch in September on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Boeing nears fix for CST-100 Starliner design hitch

August 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

Boeing engineers are close to resolving concerns with the mass and aerodynamic shape of the company’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew carrier, and officials are optimistic the spaceship will be ready to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station in early 2018.

NASA orders second SpaceX crew ferry ship

July 29, 2016 William Harwood

NASA has ordered a second commercial crew ferry ship from SpaceX, NASA announced Friday, as the agency continues its on-going push to develop U.S.-built spacecraft to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, ending sole reliance on Russian Soyuz vehicles.

NASA spells out support for SpaceX’s Red Dragon Mars mission

July 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

If SpaceX is able to dispatch a robotic Dragon capsule to land on the red planet in 2018 on time and successfully, engineers stand to get a lesson on what it will take to eventually send humans there, capturing key data on an untested Mars landing scheme a decade sooner than NASA could do it, space agency officials said this week.

SpaceX fires previously-flown rocket in major stride toward reusability

July 29, 2016 Stephen Clark

Throttling up to more than a million pounds of thrust at SpaceX’s Central Texas test facility, a Falcon 9 rocket booster recovered after a commercial satellite launch in May passed a key milestone Thursday as the company sets its sights on re-flying a used first stage on a mission this fall.

Video: Two cargo freighters arrive at space station just days apart

July 21, 2016 Justin Ray

The Russian Progress 64P autonomous cargo ship docked to the International Space Station on Monday and the commercial SpaceX Dragon CRS 9 vessel was captured by the station’s robotic arm and berthed to the outpost on Wednesday.

Dragon cargo craft reaches port at International Space Station

July 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

A commercial resupply freighter owned and operated by SpaceX wrapped up a two-day trip to the International Space Station on Wednesday, delivering a new docking port and two tons of other equipment to research laboratory more than 250 miles above Earth.

Gallery of photos from Monday’s Falcon 9 flight

July 18, 2016 Stephen Clark

Taking off and landing in the middle of the night at Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered a Dragon supply ship to orbit for the International Space Station as the launcher’s first stage booster swooped to a spectacular touchdown.

SpaceX sends supplies to space station, lands another Falcon rocket

July 18, 2016 Stephen Clark

Rising into a midnight sky lit by the full moon, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral early Monday with a commercial cargo craft on the way to the International Space Station, then returned to Florida’s Space Coast for a dramatic nighttime landing.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket lifted vertical for cargo launch

July 17, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX hoisted its Falcon 9 rocket upright Sunday evening, hours before launching on a commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Technicians installed time-sensitive supplies into the Dragon cargo capsule earlier in the day.