Tag: Falcon Heavy
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NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Fuel Savings Extend Potential Mission Life to 22 Years
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could support at least 22 years of science operations—more than double its original 10-year fuel budget—after a highly accurate trajectory-correction burn used less than one-tenth of the propellant allocated for the maneuver, the agency announced September 14. Roman launched at 7:26 a.m. EDT on August 30 aboard a SpaceX…
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NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Launches on Falcon Heavy to Map Two Billion Galaxies
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy on August 30, beginning a three-month journey to a gravitationally stable observing location nearly one million miles from Earth. The rocket lifted off at 7:26 a.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman separated from Falcon Heavy’s…
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Falcon 9’s Final Chapter? SpaceX Plans to Retire Its Workhorse Rocket Once Starship Reaches Full Operational Service
SpaceX is preparing for one of the most consequential transitions in launch industry history: the eventual retirement of the Falcon 9 rocket, the vehicle that transformed commercial spaceflight and established reusable launch systems as an industry standard. According to comments highlighted by SpaceX leadership and reported by Space.com, the company intends to phase out Falcon…
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Aerospace Corp Study Questions Super Heavy Lift Economics
Does Super Heavy Lift Actually Lower Launch Costs Per Kilogram? A new Aerospace Corporation report released June 29 challenges the core economic assumption driving the super heavy lift rocket race: that bigger always means cheaper per kilogram to orbit. The report warns that beyond a certain threshold — which it deliberately does not quantify —…
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NASA Delivers First Braking Engines for ESA’s Rosalind Franklin Mars Mission
NASA has delivered the first braking engines for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosalind Franklin Mars mission, marking an important milestone in the agencies’ collaboration to return the rover mission to flight. The braking engines are one of three major contributions NASA is providing to the mission, alongside launch services and Radioisotope Heater Units (RHUs)…
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Euclid studies Milky Way center, supports future Roman observations
The European Space Agency (ESA) recently released a new picture of the center of the Milky Way galaxy, an area known as the galactic bulge. Containing over 60 million stars, the picture, taken by ESA’s Euclid space telescope, represents the largest and most detailed photo of this region to date. Euclid observed the area outside…
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NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope arrives in Florida
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, nestled inside its transport container nicknamed ‘the Chariot’, passes by the Vehicle Assembly Building on its way to the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now NASA’s next great observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center aboard…
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SpaceX launches Falcon Heavy on Wednesday after 18 month hiatus
After a hiatus of more than a year and a half, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket finally flew again from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. The mission, named ViaSat-3 F3, saw a third internet satellite deployed as part of the ViaSat-3 internet satellite constellation into geostationary orbit (GEO).…
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SpaceX launches 6-ton ViaSat-3 F3 satellite on Falcon Heavy rocket
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, carrying the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite, lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on April 29, 2026. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update April 29, 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 UTC): SpaceX confirms successful deployment of the ViaSat-3 F3 satellite. SpaceX’s most powerful operational rocket, the Falcon Heavy, lifted…
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Launch preview: SpaceX seeks second attempt at Falcon Heavy launch following weather scrub on Monday
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket stands in the vertical launch position ahead of the flight of the ViaSat-3 Flight 3 mission for Viasat. Image: John Pisani/Spaceflight Now SpaceX will try again Wednesday to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, following a last-minute scrub Monday due to poor weather. The heavy lift rocket…