Tag: launch

SpaceX Falcon 9 Returns to Flight  (And Lands Again)

SpaceX Falcon 9 Returns to Flight (And Lands Again)

After working through a four month stand-down as it sought to understand and address the cause of the September 1st, 2016 explosion that destroyed a Falcon 9 booster and its payload during a pre-launch wet dress rehearsal at Cape Canaveral, SpaceX returned to flight in typically dramatic fashion on Saturday, successfully launching 10 Iridium Next […]

Posted in: SpaceX
SpaceX Aims for Mid-December Return to Flight

SpaceX Aims for Mid-December Return to Flight

Although SpaceX has yet to make an official announcement, it appears that the company’s return to flight following the September 1st ‘anomaly’ that destroyed a Falcon 9 at Cape Canaveral will come in less than two weeks, on December 16th. The news came via a press release from Iridium Communications, which confirms that SpaceX will […]

Posted in: SpaceX
ULA’s Debuts New “RocketBuilder” Website

ULA’s Debuts New “RocketBuilder” Website

It may not have a reusable rocket, or even the prospect of one, but that doesn’t mean United Launch Alliance isn’t without a few advantages of its own in competing for commercial launch orders. On Wednesday, ULA introduced a new website, called RocketBuilder.com, meant to highlight its newfound commitment to transparency, lowering launch prices and becoming […]

SpaceX Aims for Return to Flight Next Month

SpaceX Aims for Return to Flight Next Month

After an exhaustive investigation, one which company founder Elon Musk said is “the toughest puzzle to solve that we’ve ever had to solve,” SpaceX has positively identified the cause of a September 1st pre-flight test that destroyed a Falcon 9 rocket and its Amos-6 payload. Confirmation came from Musk via a wide-ranging Friday interview on […]

Posted in: SpaceX
China Resumes Crewed Spaceflight With Sunday Launch

China Resumes Crewed Spaceflight With Sunday Launch

On Sunday, China launched a two person crew to its newly orbited Tiangong-2 space station. The launch, labelled Shenzhou-11, took place aboard a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in the Gobi desert, lifting off at 7:30 PM EDT, which was 7:30 AM local. The crew of the Shenzhou-11 carrier […]

Posted in: Chinese space
India Strides Ahead With First “Operational” Launch of Its Cryogenic GSLV

India Strides Ahead With First “Operational” Launch of Its Cryogenic GSLV

While much of the space interested world is looking towards Cape Canaveral and the launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission this evening, doubtlessly casting a concerned eye over the charred remains of SpaceX’s mobile launch erector just a few miles away, it was a very different rocket launching from a pad much further away which has […]

Posted in: GSLV, India Space
SpaceX, SES Aim For a Three-peat With Historic Relaunch Agreement

SpaceX, SES Aim For a Three-peat With Historic Relaunch Agreement

The NewSpace Age is set to take another giant leap forward later this year with today’s announcement that SpaceX and SES have reached an agreement to use a “flight proven” Falcon 9 first stage for the launch of the SES-10 satellite. Luxembourg based SES has been one of SpaceX’s most progressive supporters, having been the […]

Posted in: NewSpace, SpaceX
SpaceX Brings Home the Gold, (and a Falcon 9) in Repeat Performance

SpaceX Brings Home the Gold, (and a Falcon 9) in Repeat Performance

It was something like watching Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky, you know the result is almost a foregone conclusion, but it still sure is fun to tune in, particularly if you are a fan of Team USA. During the overnight hours, SpaceX once again successfully launched a communications satellite on a commercial mission to Geostationary […]

Posted in: SpaceX
SpaceX Receives Second Order for Commercial Crew Launch to ISS

SpaceX Receives Second Order for Commercial Crew Launch to ISS

Kennedy Space Center News Release July 29, 2016 RELEASE 16-080 NASA Orders Second SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station NASA took another important step Friday in returning U.S. astronaut launches from U.S. soil with the order of a second post-certification mission from commercial provider SpaceX in Hawthorne, California. Commercial crew flights from Florida’s Space […]

Posted in: NASA, SpaceX
One Year After the SpaceX CRS-7 Failure

One Year After the SpaceX CRS-7 Failure

One year ago yesterday, SpaceX suffered a major launch failure of its Falcon 9 system with the loss of a booster carrying the a Dragon spacecraft to ISS on the CRS-7 resupply mission. The cause of the accident was traced as being most likely due to a faulty second stage support strut which buckled well […]

Posted in: SpaceX
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