Tag: commercial-space
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Launch timeline for Ariane 5’s flight with ViaSat 2 and Eutelsat 172B
An Ariane 5 rocket will fire into the sky from French Guiana Thursday evening and deliver a record heavyweight payload to orbit less than an hour later. The nearly 180-foot-tall (55-meter) launcher will blast off from Kourou, French Guiana, at 2345 GMT (7:45 p.m. EDT; 8:45 p.m. French Guiana time) on its third flight of…
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Two high-power broadband satellites set for record-breaking launch on Ariane 5 rocket
The Ariane 5 rocket arrived at its launch pad in French Guiana on Wednesday. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – J. Durrenberger A pair of innovative satellites for ViaSat and Eutelsat, valued at approximately $800 million, are scheduled to lift off Thursday on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, hauling the…
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Lightning near launch pad scrubs liftoff of SpaceX supply ship
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at pad 39A Thursday. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now Stormy weather near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center kept SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on the ground Thursday, delaying liftoff of a commercial supply ship with equipment and experiments for the International Space Station until Saturday. SpaceX’s launch director called off the launch attempt around…
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Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch Systems brings monster plane out of hangar for first time
An aerial view shows the Stratolaunch airplane outside its hangar for the first time. The twin-fuselage aircraft is the world’s largest airplane, measured by wingspan. (Stratolaunch Photo) Six years after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen started up Stratolaunch Systems, the billionaire’s air-launch venture brought its humongous twin-fuselage airplane out in the open for the first time…
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Refurbished SpaceX supply ship ready for liftoff Thursday
A SpaceX Dragon cargo craft at the International Space Station in September 2014. The upper section of the spacecraft seen in this image will be re-flown to the space station. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX will go for another first Thursday, this time flying a refurbished Dragon supply ship carrying nearly 6,000 pounds of cargo and experiments…
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Rocket Lab chief says maiden launch result maintains pace for commercial service
Video credit: Rocket Lab The result of last week’s inaugural test flight of Rocket Lab’s Electron satellite launcher from New Zealand, which reached space but was unable to enter orbit, positions the company for two more demonstration missions in the coming months before the privately-operated booster enters commercial service by the end of the year,…
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Live coverage: SpaceX prepares for station cargo launch
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the next Falcon 9 rocket mission from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The rocket will launch a Dragon capsule carrying supplies to the International Space Station. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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Maiden flight of Rocket Lab’s small satellite launcher reaches space
Video credit: Rocket Lab The debut launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from a privately-operated base in New Zealand made it to space Thursday, proving the performance of major parts of the booster before faltering short of the velocity it needed to enter orbit, the company said in a statement. The U.S.-New Zealand company said…
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Videos: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off for first time
Rocket Lab’s Electron commercial satellite launcher lifted off from New Zealand on its debut test flight Thursday and soared into space on its maiden mission. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) launcher did not reach orbit as intended, but Rocket Lab said the Electron successfully flew through the booster’s first stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition and…
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Rocket Lab waits for improved weather for test flight of new commercial launcher
The Electron rocket horizontal at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Worsening weather at Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch facility forced officials to call off the liftoff of a new commercial satellite booster for the third straight day Tuesday. “Launch scrubbed for the day due to triboelectrification,” Rocket Lab tweeted Tuesday evening,…