SpaceX – Page 181 – Spaceflight Now

Decision on new space station cargo contracts deferred

April 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA expects to select commercial contractors to resupply the International Space Station in September, three months later than the agency’s previous timetable under a competition for cargo deliveries beginning in 2018.

Dragon pad abort test set for early May

April 21, 2015 Stephen Clark

A major test of the system that would shoot SpaceX astronaut crews away from a failing rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 5 from a specially-built mount at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad, NASA announced Tuesday.

Throttle valve blamed for Falcon 9’s unsuccessful landing

April 21, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX engineers have narrowed the cause of last week’s unsuccessful landing of a Falcon 9 rocket booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean on a commanding issue with an engine throttle valve, according to Elon Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive.

Photos: SpaceX’s debris-strewn landing barge back in port

April 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Returning to port late Thursday under the cover of darkness, SpaceX’s rocket recovery platform has moored at a dock in Jacksonville, Florida, for unloading of charred debris from Tuesday’s crash landing of a Falcon 9 booster.

SpaceX supply ship joins up with space station

April 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Packed with an array of experiments and provisions, including a custom-made Italian espresso maker, SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon cargo capsule reached the International Space Station on Friday after a precise laser-guided rendezvous more than 250 miles above Earth.

No time wasted in SpaceX’s rapid-fire launch campaign

April 16, 2015 Stephen Clark

Hours after launching a batch of cargo and provisions to the International Space Station on Tuesday, SpaceX ground teams wheeled another Falcon 9 rocket into the hangar at Cape Canaveral for a commercial satellite launch set for April 27.

New, longer video hits Internet and shows Falcon’s landing demise

April 15, 2015 Justin Ray

New video released from SpaceX on Wednesday shows a longer sequence of events during the failed landing reusability attempt on Tuesday.

Photos: Tuesday’s SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral

April 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

A sun-splashed Florida afternoon was the setting for Tuesday’s liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket, which fired its nine-engine booster stage and climbed into space with a commercial cargo spacecraft en route to the International Space Station.

Video: SpaceX rocket booster crash lands on barge

April 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 rocket booster — under the power of a single Merlin 1D engine — descends toward a specially-outfitted ocean landing platform off Florida’s East Coast on Tuesday in a brief video clip released by SpaceX.

Falcon 9 successfully launches, descends to off-balance landing

April 14, 2015 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched from Cape Canaveral with a 2.2-ton package of supplies and experiments for the International Space Station on Tuesday, but the booster toppled over after descending to a barge parked in the Atlantic Ocean.