Tag: commercial-space
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Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship hits new heights in escape test flight
Blue Origin’s New Shepard spaceship blasts off for a high-altitude escape system test. (Blue Origin via YouTube) As Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos watched, his Blue Origin space venture sent its reusable New Shepard spaceship to its highest-ever altitude today during a successful test of a rocket motor that’s meant to be used only in emergencies.…
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Live coverage: SpaceX’s second upgraded “Block 5” booster test-fired in Florida
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad with the Telstar 19 VANTAGE communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Spaceflight Now Members can watch a live view of the launch pad. Become a member and support our coverage. Follow us on Twitter.
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Blue Origin performs high-altitude test of crew escape motor
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT) after the test flight. Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard booster launched Wednesday on an uncrewed test flight, sending a capsule on a brief jaunt into space over West Texas to demonstrate a key safety feature for space tourists and scientists riding on the company’s future rockets. Blue…
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Blue Origin counts down to high-altitude escape test of New Shepard spaceship
Blue Origin is preparing its New Shepard suborbital spaceship for a test flight that’s expected to push the envelope. (Blue Origin Photo) Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, says it’ll push its New Shepard suborbital spaceship “to its limits” during its ninth flight test. The test is set to take…
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Scotland site selected as launch base for Lockheed Martin, Orbex
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated July 17 with Rocket Lab statement. Artist’s concept of a rocket lifting off from the U.K.’s first vertical orbital launch site in northern Scotland. Credit: Lockheed Martin Two companies — U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and British start-up Orbex — seeking to carve out a share of the burgeoning small satellite launch market…
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Powerful new European solid-fueled rocket motor aces first test-firing
European engineers test-fired the world’s most powerful present-day single-segment solid rocket booster Monday in French Guiana, clearing a major development hurdle for the Vega-C and Ariane 6 launchers set for debuts in 2019 and 2020. Mounted on a test stand over a flame trench carved out of bedrock at the European-run spaceport in South America,…
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Cygnus cargo ship released from space station, heads for extended mission
The Cygnus supply ship flies away from the International Space Station after release from Canadarm 2 on Sunday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Closing out 52 days at the International Space Station, an automated Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft left the research outpost Sunday to climb into a higher orbit for deployment of six CubeSats and…
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Live coverage: Cygnus supply ship departs space station
Live coverage of Northrop Grumman’s ninth operational Cygnus resupply flight to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter.
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$200,000 for a trip to space? Blue Origin says price hasn’t been seriously discussed
An artist’s conception shows a passenger looking out the window of Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship. (Blue Origin Illustration) Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space venture, Blue Origin, is playing down reports that a suborbital space trip on its New Shepard rocket ship could cost $200,000 to $300,000. “We have not set ticket pricing and…
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Towers at historic Florida launch pad toppled
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1250 GMT) after demolition. Launch towers at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 17 launch pad were topped Thursday in an explosive demolition. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now The U.S. Air Force on Thursday demolished towers once used to assemble Delta 2 rockets at Cape Canaveral for missions to Mars, four dozen…