Tag: Dragon
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Launch Roundup: 100th launch of the year, Starliner delays, NASA’s PREFIRE-1 mission
There are two launches from China to start this week, the first of which will be the 95th launch attempt of the year worldwide. If all goes to plan, this week should see the 100th launch of 2024, although the schedule is rather fluid at present. SpaceX has already passed 50 launches this year and…
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SpaceX launches Maxar’s first WorldView Legion satellites on Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base
A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying the first pair of WorldView Legion satellites for Maxar Space Systems. Image: SpaceX SpaceX completed the first of a planned pair of Falcon 9 launches on Thursday, hours after it worked with NASA to relocate its Crew Dragon spacecraft on the…
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SpaceX’s workhorse launch pad now has the accoutrements for astronauts
Upgrades at SpaceX’s most-used launch pad in Florida got a trial run Thursday with the liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon cargo ship heading for the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft launched at 4:55 pm EDT (20:55 UTC) Thursday from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force…
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Launch Roundup: two missions to the ISS, including first Dragon 2 from SLC-40
SpaceX is preparing to launch three Falcon 9s, including two Starlink missions. Additionally, launching this week are two Chinese rockets, an Electron, and a crewed Soyuz. SpaceX will continue to strive for a record-breaking year by launching from all three of its Falcon 9 launch pads this week, which will take its launch total to…
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Crew-7 and Endurance return to Earth after a six-month ISS stay
Crew Dragon Endurance and the Crew-7 astronauts returned to Earth after the handover to the Crew-8 astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). Spacecraft commander and US Marine Corps Lt. Col Jasmin Moghbeli, pilot and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen from Denmark, Japanese mission specialist Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA, and Russian mission specialist Konstantin Borisov of…
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ISS Roundup: Cygnus NG-20, Axiom Mission 3, and Progress MS-26
This month, the International Space Station (ISS) has seen a flurry of activity, from experiments to vehicle arrivals and departures. Multiple resupply missions by Cygnus and Progress have kept the crew of Expedition 70 healthy onboard the Station. Meanwhile, a private mission from Axiom headed back to Earth with the first-ever all-European commercial crew, and…
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ISS Roundup: 25 year anniversary, spacewalks, cargo arrivals and departures
The final quarter of 2023 saw the International Space Station (ISS) celebrate 25 years in orbit, though there was no letup in the ongoing work as the Expedition 70 crew settled into the tasks and experiments that are carried out onboard the orbital laboratory. Cargo spacecraft arrived at the Station carrying supplies and fresh experiments…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX pushes for 100 flights in the year with a ISS resupply, a rideshare mission, and more
SpaceX is actively working to reach its goal of 100 launches by the end of this year with four launches carrying many different types of payloads coming this week. Additionally, China has continued to upgrade its satellites in orbit with the 150th launch of its Chang Zheng 3B/E rocket. A Starlink mission started out the…
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Valves are a regular concern at SpaceX, just like every other space company
SpaceX is launching a mission about once every four days, and most of those flights are going to space to deploy Internet satellites for the company’s own Starlink broadband network. But this week is different. Aside from two more missions carrying Starlink satellites, SpaceX is preparing to send a four-person crew to the International Space…
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Launch Roundup: North Korea has failed launch attempt, SpaceX launch back-to-back missions
Following several launch delays last week, the week of Aug. 21 through Aug. 27 is set to see seven launches marking the 129th through 135th orbital launch attempts of 2023. Starting the week off, SpaceX launched the Starlink Group 7-1 mission from Space Launch Complex (SLC) 4 East at the Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB).…