SpaceX – Page 62 – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX test-fires Starship prototype with three engines

October 20, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX fired three Raptor engines on a prototype of the company’s Starship vehicle Tuesday, accomplishing another milestone on the road toward testing of the methane-fueled rocket at higher altitudes.

SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites

October 18, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink internet relay platforms into orbit Sunday as the company ramps up network testing in Washington state and touts a streak of nearly 300 satellites launched since June without a spacecraft failure.

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Kennedy Space Center

October 17, 2020 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:25 a.m. EDT (1225 GMT) with 60 more Starlink internet satellites. SpaceX successfully recovered the first stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

NASA selects proposals to demonstrate in-space refueling and propellant depot tech

October 16, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA has selected 14 companies for contracts of more than $370 million to advance technology for human missions to the moon and Mars. Most of the money will support flight demonstrations by SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and other companies that could lead to in-space refueling and propellant depots for reusable lunar landers and deep space transportation vehicles.

SpaceX crew launch delayed to assess Merlin engine concern

October 10, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA said Saturday that the launch of four astronauts on SpaceX’s first operational Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station has been delayed from Oct. 31 until “no sooner than early-to-mid November,” allowing time for SpaceX to resolve an issue with Falcon 9 rocket engines that halted a recent launch attempt with a GPS navigation satellite.

SpaceX breaks cycle of scrubs with successful Falcon 9 launch

October 6, 2020 Stephen Clark

Sixty more SpaceX Starlink broadband satellites rocketed into orbit Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center, breaking a streak canceled launch attempts at the Florida spaceport in recent weeks and nudging the Starlink network closer to reaching a wider population.

NRO reveals plans for previously-undisclosed SpaceX launch this month

October 5, 2020 Stephen Clark

The National Reconnaissance Office has confirmed it will launch a payload on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral later this month, a mission on SpaceX’s schedule that was not publicly disclosed until recently.

SpaceX aborts liftoff of GPS satellite, continuing streak of launch scrubs

October 3, 2020 Stephen Clark

For the fourth time this week, a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral was stopped with seconds remaining in the countdown Friday night, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket automatically aborted its liftoff with a new GPS navigation satellite during the engine startup sequence.

Space Force announces new nicknames for GPS satellites

October 2, 2020 Stephen Clark

The Space Force says it changed the nickname of a GPS navigation satellite launched in June from Columbus to instead honor Matthew Henson, a Black explorer on the first expedition to the North Pole more than a century ago, “to acknowledge a fuller history of courageous explorers and pioneers.” The military’s next GPS navigation satellite, set for launch Friday night, is nicknamed Sacagawea.

Falcon 9 launch timeline with the GPS 3 SV04 navigation satellite

October 2, 2020 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 5 carrying the U.S. Air Force’s next GPS 3-series navigation satellite destined for an orbit more than 12,000 miles above Earth.