Tag: commercial-space
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Boeing proposes SLS-launched lunar lander
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Nov. 10 to correct references to ascent and descent stage functions. Artist’s concept of Boeing’s lunar lander taking off from the moon. Credit: Boeing Boeing is touting a lunar lander concept that the company claims could launch in one piece on an upgraded version of NASA’s Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket — which…
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Video: New view of Starliner pad abort test
Video credit: Boeing Boeing has released a new video of the company’s Nov. 4 abort test demonstrating the Starliner crew capsule’s ability to escape a launch pad emergency. Officials from Boeing and NASA briefed reporters Thursday on the initial results from the pad abort test, in which the abort engines pushed the spacecraft off…
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Boeing identifies cause of chute malfunction, preps for Starliner launch
Technicians prepare Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft for fueling before its first unpiloted space mission. Credit: Boeing Boeing specialists working inside a former space shuttle hangar in Florida started fueling the company’s first spaceflight-ready Starliner capsule this week ahead of the ship’s rollout to its launch pad later this month. The fueling milestone is a major…
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Boeing traces problem with Starliner parachute system to an unsecured pin
Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner space taxi descends on the end of two parachutes during this week’s pad abort test. The Starliner’s heat shield can be seen falling away beneath the craft. (Boeing Photo) For want of a pin, the use of a spaceship’s parachute was lost. That may be a simplistic way to explain why one…
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Photos: Antares rocket lifts offs on space station cargo mission
A two-stage Northrop Grumman Antares booster lifted off Nov. 2 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore with a Cygnus cargo freighter on the way to the International Space Station. These photos show the 139-foot-tall (42.5-meter) rocket climbing into the sky from pad 0A at the spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The Antares…
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Photos: Starliner crew capsule performs pad abort test
Boeing conducted a critical test of the launch abort system of the company’s Starliner crew capsule Nov. 4 at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Four launch abort engines, augmented with thrust from smaller maneuvering jets, ignited at 7:15 a.m. MST (9:15 a.m. EST; 1415 GMT) to swiftly launch the 16.5-foot-tall (5-meter) crew capsule…
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ULA begins stacking unique Atlas 5 rocket for Starliner test flight
Ground crews hoisted the first stage of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket vertical atop its mobile launch platform Monday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in preparation for a scheduled Dec. 17 launch with Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. Credit: United Launch Alliance The stacking of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket this…
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Watch the static fire of the Falcon 9 being readied for Starlink mission
A Falcon 9 rocket fires its nine Merlin first stage engines at Cape Canaveral’s launch pad 40 Nov. 5, 2019, as part of a routine pre-launch test. The successful static fire clears the way for the launch of 60 Starlink satellites, currently scheduled for Nov. 11. Live coverage like this is made possible by the…
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SpaceX to reuse payload fairing for first time on Nov. 11 launch
SpaceX retrieved two halves of the payload fairing from a Falcon Heavy launch April 11 . Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX A SpaceX launch set for Nov. 11 will mark the first Falcon 9 mission to use a payload fairing from a previous flight, the company announced Tuesday, shortly after SpaceX engineers at Cape Canaveral test-fired the…
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Live coverage: SpaceX test-fires Falcon 9 rocket for Starlink launch
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the next Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s second batch of Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Credit: Spaceflight Now Check here for live updates on SpaceX launch preparations.