SpaceX – Page 161 – Spaceflight Now

Falcon 9 could launch again in November, Falcon Heavy debut slips to 2017

September 14, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX hopes to resume launches in November as the company continues its investigation into a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion to determine whether the accident originated on the Falcon 9 rocket or ground systems, officials said Tuesday.

SES stands by SpaceX after getting ‘good discount’ on reused rocket

September 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

One of SpaceX’s most loyal commercial customers, the European-based telecom satellite operator SES, remains committed to flying a spacecraft aboard a “refurbished” Falcon 9 booster as soon as the company resumes rocket flights, officials said.

Quick work saved the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission from nearby explosion

September 13, 2016 Stephen Clark

Engineers scrambled to keep NASA’s billion-dollar asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on track for its launch last week in the aftermath of an explosion a mile away at SpaceX’s launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Musk: No answers so far in ‘difficult’ failure investigation

September 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is more than a week into a company-led probe of a launch pad explosion Sept. 1 that destroyed a Falcon 9 booster and an Israeli communications satellite, but the investigation so far has turned up no smoking gun on the cause of the mishap, Elon Musk said Friday.

SpaceX may turn to other launch pads when rocket flights resume

September 6, 2016 Stephen Clark

Ground crews could face months of cleanup and repairs to SpaceX’s primary launch pad at Cape Canaveral after a rocket explosion wrecked the facility last week, but officials said that other pads in Florida and California could support Falcon 9 flights when the booster is ready to blast off again.

Spacecom to recoup value of lost satellite, could ask SpaceX for compensation

September 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

The Israeli company which owned a commercial communications satellite destroyed in an explosion last week at SpaceX’s launch pad in Florida will receive more than $200 million in payouts stemming from the incident, and hopes to purchase a replacement, officials said Monday.

Video: Falcon 9 rocket explodes on the launch pad

September 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

Watch as a 23-story Falcon 9 rocket explodes Thursday morning during a countdown before a pre-launch engine hotfire test at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.

SpaceX rocket and Israeli satellite destroyed in launch pad explosion

September 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded in the final minutes of a simulated countdown at Cape Canaveral on Thursday, destroying the booster and an Israeli communications satellite valued at nearly $200 million.

Tropical storm could be a factor in SpaceX launch Saturday

August 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Weather forecasters at Cape Canaveral are keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Hermine in the Gulf of Mexico in case winds and thick clouds from the cyclone threaten the scheduled launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday.

SES agrees to launch satellite on ‘flight-proven’ Falcon 9 rocket

August 30, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX and SES, an international communications satellite operator based in Luxembourg, have agreed to place the SES 10 television relay craft aboard the first launch of a reused “flight-proven” Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral as soon as October, the companies announced Tuesday.