Tag: Falcon
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CRS-20 – Final Dragon 1 arrives at the ISS
Following its ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, the company’s CRS-20 Dragon cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station on Monday. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida occurred at 11:50 pm Eastern time (04:50 UTC), prior to berthing at the ISS early on…
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SpaceX conducts Static Fire on Falcon Heavy ahead of Arabsat 6A launch
Over a year after its previous flight, SpaceX conducted the Static Fire test on its second Falcon Heavy. This rocket – the first Block 5 Falcon Heavy – will launch Arabsat 6A to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) from LC-39A. The static fire took place on Friday, with the test occurring at 12 pm local…
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SpaceX enter negotiations to breathe new life into Pad 39A
Launch Pad 39A – vacated since the end of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) – took a step towards welcoming new vehicles to its flame trench, following the NASA announcement confirming they have entered negotiations with SpaceX for the use of the famous launch complex. The path towards talks was cleared after the GAO denied…
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Stratolaunch introduce Rutan designed air-launched system for Falcon rockets
Funded as a Paul G. Allen project under the banner of Stratolaunch, Burt Rutan is taking his space tourism concept a step further, by developing an air-launch system for payloads in the 10,000lbm class into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The system will be able to launch from several possible operational sites and eventually aims to…
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Ares/Orion slipping up to 18 months – Shuttle extension gains upper hand
NASA’s Constellation Program (CxP) will conduct a “Content and Schedule” summit meeting in the next few months, after it was evaluated their current schedules are “broken”. The meeting will aim to protect against a slip that is estimated to be as serious as 18 months, or outright cancellation for Ares I. Meanwhile, the push for…
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Elon Musk Q and A – Updates SpaceX status on Falcon and Dragon
Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies – commonly known as SpaceX – has given NASASpaceflight.com an exclusive interview, in which he updates the status of their Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 launch vehicles, along with their push towards the debut of their Dragon manned spacecraft. Musk speaks candidly about the challenges involved with taking…