SpaceX – Page 178 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: SpaceX’s rocket landing platform back in port

January 11, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s ocean-going rocket landing pad — dubbed the autonomous spaceport drone ship — is back in port after a Falcon 9 rocket booster crashed on the platform during an experimental flyback maneuver following Saturday’s successful liftoff with supplies for the International Space Station.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket climbs away from Cape Canaveral

January 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

Crowned with a commercial cargo capsule with 5,100 pounds of provisions and experiments, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, sending the Dragon supply ship on a two-day trek to the International Space Station. See photos of the predawn liftoff.

Despite botched landing, a lot went right with SpaceX’s booster flyback

January 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 booster accomplished a delicate maneuver after a glowing predawn launch from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, autonomously navigating its away to a modified barge the size of a football field hidden in darkness beneath a blanket of low clouds, before it crashed and broke apart.

Dragon successfully launched, rocket recovery demo crash lands

January 10, 2015 Stephen Clark

A commercial Dragon spaceship soared into orbit from Cape Canaveral on Saturday in pursuit of the International Space Station, but the automated craft’s Falcon 9 booster crash landed after flying back to Earth in a daring test of futuristic reusable rocket technologies.

SpaceX cargo rocket ready for another launch attempt

January 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is counting down to liftoff Saturday of a Falcon 9 rocket with a commercial cargo craft heading for the International Space Station after engineers replaced a component in an upper stage steering system that grounded the launcher Tuesday.

GAO reaffirms NASA’s commercial crew decision

January 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp. challenging NASA’s selection of competitors Boeing and SpaceX to build commercial human-rated space capsules to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.

SpaceX launch scrubbed by steering system problem

January 6, 2015 William Harwood

Launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo ship loaded with more than 5,100 pounds of equipment and supplies bound for the International Space Station was called off Tuesday less than two minutes before liftoff because of apparent problems with the second stage engine steering system.

NASA ‘leaning on’ SpaceX to keep ISS supply lines open

January 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

The Dragon spaceship poised for launch Tuesday will carry more than 2.5 tons of equipment for the International Space Station’s six-person crew, making the first U.S. supply delivery to the orbiting research complex since the crash of an Antares cargo rocket in October.

Cargo flight first of many SpaceX launches planned for 2015

January 6, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX will kick off a busy 2015 calendar playing catch-up, with liftoff of a Dragon supply ship for the International Space Station set for Tuesday after a delay from December.

Ships deployed into the Atlantic for experimental rocket landing

January 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

A barge and command ship chartered by SpaceX are stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida’s East Coast in a bid to recover a used-up Falcon 9 rocket stage Tuesday in a long-theorized — but never tried — maneuver that could lay the groundwork for a big advance in space technology.