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Falcon 9 launch delay sets up potential SpaceX ‘doubleheader’ next weekend

June 18, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX has pushed back the liftoff of a Bulgarian television broadcast satellite on the company’s second previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket until at least Friday, giving ground crews time to replace a valve on the launcher inside a hangar at its Florida launch pad.

Falcon 9 launch scheduled for Monday after hold-down engine firing

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of a commercial Bulgarian television broadcast satellite from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is set for Monday after SpaceX ran through a mock countdown Thursday and test-fired a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket’s Merlin main engines.

Video: SpaceX’s second reused Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket ignited its nine Merlin main engines for several seconds Thursday at launch pad 39A in Florida, moving the previously-flown booster closer to a scheduled blastoff Monday with a Bulgarian communications satellite.

Live coverage: Previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket fires engines on Florida launch pad

June 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch, using a previously-flown first stage booster, took a step closer to liftoff Thursday with a countdown rehearsal culminating in ignition of the launcher’s nine Merlin main engines in a hold-down firing at pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Photos: Russian Proton rocket blasts off with EchoStar 21

June 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Look back on last week’s launch of a Russian Proton rocket from Kazakhstan with the EchoStar 21 communications satellite, a commercial craft designed to beam broadband connectivity to customers across Europe.

Video: Proton rocket returns to service with launch of EchoStar 21

June 8, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Proton rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the EchoStar 21 communications satellite Thursday, the heaviest commercial payload ever flown aboard a Russian booster.

Live coverage: Proton rocket blasts off for first time in a year

June 7, 2017 Stephen Clark

A Russian Proton rocket launched at 0345 GMT Thursday (11:45 p.m. EDT Wednesday) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the EchoStar 21 communications satellite, a hefty 7.6-ton telecommunications station designed to support a mobile network in Europe. Managed by U.S.-based International Launch Services, the mission will take more than nine hours to deliver EchoStar 21 into a geostationary transfer orbit using five burns of the Breeze M upper stage engine.

Falcon 9 launch delay sets up potential SpaceX ‘doubleheader’ next weekend

Falcon 9 launch scheduled for Monday after hold-down engine firing

Video: SpaceX’s second reused Falcon 9 rocket test-fired in Florida

Live coverage: Previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket fires engines on Florida launch pad

Photos: Russian Proton rocket blasts off with EchoStar 21

Video: Proton rocket returns to service with launch of EchoStar 21

Live coverage: Proton rocket blasts off for first time in a year

EchoStar, SES satellites enter service after March launches from Cape Canaveral

Bulgaria’s first communications satellite to ride SpaceX’s second reused rocket

Photos: EchoStar 23 takes flight on Falcon 9 rocket