Tag: commercial-space
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Live coverage: SpaceX launches NRO payload, lands booster at Cape Canaveral
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will launch the NROL-108 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”SpaceX webcast”] [tabby title=”SpaceX mission audio”] [tabbyending] SpaceX’s live video webcast begins…
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SpaceX scrubs Falcon 9 launch to assess second stage issue
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT) with delay to Saturday. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday after an aborted countdown. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch attempt Thursday to evaluate a “slightly high” pressure reading in the rocket’s upper stage liquid oxygen…
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Astra’s smallsat launcher reaches space on second test flight
Astra’s Rocket 3.2 takes off from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Credit: Astra / John Kraus On its second test flight Tuesday, Astra’s privately-developed small satellite launcher ran out of fuel seconds before reaching the velocity needed to enter orbit but exceeded the company’s expectations with an otherwise-successful climb into space from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Astra officials…
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NRO using SpaceX’s commercial launch service for spy satellite payload
SpaceX raised a Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 39A Wednesday for the company’s final mission of the year. Credit: Spaceflight Now A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to take off Thursday from Florida’s Space Coast with a secret cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office, which broke with standard practice to procure the launch…
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Rocket Lab closes out year with launch of Synspective’s first radar satellite
A Rocket Lab Electron launcher takes off from New Zealand on Tuesday. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s seventh and final launch of the year delivered a small radar observation satellite into orbit for Synspective, a Japanese startup planning a fleet of 30 or more Earth-imaging spacecraft providing day-and-night imagery of cities around the world. The…
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Full video of Starship’s seven-minute high-altitude test flight
This video replay shot from South Padre Island shows SpaceX’s Starship SN8 prototype rocket taking off from Boca Chica, Texas, climbing high into the atmosphere, then gliding back to a fiery crash landing after an otherwise successful test flight. The nearly seven-minute experimental flight Wednesday began with liftoff at 4:45 p.m. CST (5:45 p.m. EST;…
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Spectators watch the final fiery moments of the Starship test flight
Spectators on South Padre Island watch the Starship prototype end its test flight in a fiery crash landing on Dec. 9, 2020. Videos like this are made possible by the support of Spaceflight Now members. Support our coverage by becoming a member today. Video: Isis Valencia/Spaceflight Now.
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SpaceX’s Starship achieves most objectives in mesmerizing test flight
SpaceX’s Starship SN8 vehicle descends back to its landing site at Boca Chica, Texas. Credit: Isis Valencia / Spaceflight Now A full-size prototype of SpaceX’s heavy-lift Starship launch vehicle soared high into the atmosphere Wednesday in a spectacular test flight over South Texas, and successfully guided itself to a beachside landing site before exploding at…
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Photos: SpaceX’s stainless-steel Starship SN8 test vehicle
SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype, on its launch pad in South Texas, is ready for the rocket’s most daring test flight yet. The 160-foot-tall (50-meter) rocket prototype is ready to launch to an altitude of around 41,000 feet (12.5 kilometers) over SpaceX’s Starship development facility at Boca Chica, Texas, near Brownsville. This Starship test vehicle, designated…
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New-generation Dragon cargo freighter docks at International Space Station
SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon capsule docked with the International Space Station Monday. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now A more spacious version of SpaceX’s Dragon cargo capsule linked up with the International Space Station Monday, using a new approach corridor to deliver more than 6,000 pounds of provisions and experiments, a commercial airlock, and a holiday…