Tag: Kennedy Space Center
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SpaceX set to fly Falcon 9 booster for fifth time on Starlink launch Sunday
The Falcon 9 rocket for SpaceX’s next mission was test-fired Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now The launch of 60 Starlink Internet satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida will mark SpaceX’s first mission to fly a Falcon first stage for a…
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Seventh-grader wins contest to name new Mars rover: Perseverance
Alexander Mather, a seventh-grade student in Virginia, reads his winning essay proposing the name “Perseverance” for NASA’s next Mars rover. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Twenty-eight thousand students across the United States submitted essays and proposed names for NASA’s newest Mars rover and on Thursday, the agency announced the winner: Perseverance, submitted by Virginia seventh-grader Alexander Mather.…
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Axiom strikes deal with SpaceX to ferry private astronauts to space station
The International Space Station viewed in October 2018 from the departing Soyuz MS-08 spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Roscosmos Axiom Space, a Houston-based company with plans to develop a commercial outpost in space, announced Thursday it has signed a contract with SpaceX to ferry a professional astronaut and three paying passengers to the International Space Station as soon…
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NASA taps SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch mission to metal asteroid
File photo of a Falcon Heavy launch in April 2019. Credit: SpaceX NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a robotic mission in July 2022 to explore Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The Psyche probe is NASA’s first mission assigned to fly on SpaceX’s heavy-lift launcher.…
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Space Adventures announces plans to fly private citizens on SpaceX crew capsule
A look inside the cabin of a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX Building on development for NASA’s commercial crew program, Space Adventures announced an agreement Tuesday with SpaceX to fly up to four paying space tourists on a standalone mission aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft in late 2021 or 2022 that could reach an…
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Mars 2020 rover arrives at Kennedy Space Center for July launch
The shipping container with the Mars 2020 rover was unloaded from a U.S. military cargo plane Wednesday after landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston Two U.S. Air Force cargo planes delivered the Mars 2020 rover, cruise stage, descent module and the Mars Helicopter to the…
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SpaceX releases preliminary results from Crew Dragon abort test
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Jan. 25 with change in description of trigger setting. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule is offloaded from the company’s recovery ship, Go Searcher, after returning to Port Canaveral on Jan. 19 following an in-flight launch escape demonstration. Credit: SpaceX Data from the Jan. 19 in-flight launch escape demonstration of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft indicate…
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Photos: Crew Dragon returns to port after in-flight abort test
The Crew Dragon spacecraft arrives at Port Canaveral on Jan. 19, 2020, after SpaceX’s in-flight abort test. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now Loaded onto a SpaceX recovery ship, the Crew Dragon capsule that performed a successful in-flight abort test Sunday over Florida’s Space Coast pulled into Port Canaveral hours later after being retrieved from…
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Photos: SpaceX purposely fails rocket to test crew capsule safety system
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Jan. 21 with additional photos. Credit: Katie Darby SpaceX simulated an in-flight emergency Sunday to verify the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft has the capability to catapult itself away from a failing Falcon 9 rocket. The in-flight abort test demonstrated the human-rated capsule can safely and rapidly fly away from a Falcon 9 rocket…
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SpaceX will trigger an intentional rocket failure to prove crew capsule’s safety
Illustration of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket during the company’s uncrewed In-Flight Abort Test for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This demonstration test of Crew Dragon’s launch escape capabilities is designed to provide valuable data toward NASA certifying SpaceX’s crew transportation system for carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. SpaceX…