SpaceX – Page 179 – Spaceflight Now

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.

Q&A with Martin Halliwell, chief technology officer at SES

February 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

The chief technology officer of SES, operator of the world’s largest commercial geostationary satellite fleet, spoke with reporters on the eve of the launch of the company’s SES 9 communications craft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

Flight timeline for Falcon 9’s launch of SES 9

February 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening, heading due east over the Atlantic Ocean to deliver the SES 9 television broadcast satellite into orbit 31 minutes later.

Falcon 9 clears static fire test before launch this week

February 22, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s launch team in Cape Canaveral fueled a Falcon 9 rocket with super-chilled liquid propellants and briefly fired the first stage’s nine Merlin engines Monday in a customary preflight test ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled liftoff of a commercial television broadcasting satellite for the Asia-Pacific.

The first flight of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule

February 16, 2016 Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launches its first Dragon capsule into orbit on a demonstration flight for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program on December 8, 2010. (Membership Required)

ViaSat trades in Falcon Heavy launch for Ariane 5

February 15, 2016 Stephen Clark

Delays in the debut of SpaceX’s huge Falcon Heavy rocket have prompted ViaSat to move the launch of a high-speed Internet communications satellite from the new privately-developed booster to an Ariane 5 flight in early 2017, officials said last week.

SES says SpaceX will launch its satellite in late February

February 9, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next launch from Cape Canaveral is set for Feb. 24, when a Falcon 9 rocket will carry a commercial television broadcasting satellite aloft for Luxembourg-based SES, the payload’s owner announced Monday.

Falcon 9 upgrade receives blessing from U.S. Air Force

January 25, 2016 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force on Monday certified the latest version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, featuring higher-thrust engines, enlarged fuel tanks and a super-chilled propellant mixture, for launches of the military’s most valuable satellites.

Dragon crew capsule’s propulsive landing system tested

January 21, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX released a video Thursday showing a propulsive hover test of a prototype of the company’s Dragon crew capsule conducted two months ago, a milestone in the development of the spaceship’s rocket packs that will eventually guide the craft to helicopter-like landings.

SpaceX rocket wreckage back on shore after near-miss at landing

January 20, 2016 Stephen Clark

Debris from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket booster returned to shore in Southern California late Monday after it tipped over on touchdown on a landing platform in the Pacific Ocean following liftoff with a ocean study satellite.