Tag: Kennedy Space Center
-
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.…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Live coverage: SpaceX successfully performs Crew Dragon abort test
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”NASA TV”] [tabby title=”SpaceX Webcast”] [tabbyending] NASA TV coverage of the SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test begins around 15 minutes prior to liftoff,…
-
Boeing expects ‘minimal refurbishment’ on reusable Starliner crew capsule
Boeing’s first space-ready Starliner crew capsule, named Calypso, is back inside the company’s assembly facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after a two-day orbital test flight in December. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now While NASA and Boeing engineers investigate the cause of a software error that cut short the first orbital test…
-
Video: Preview of dramatic Crew Dragon In-Flight Abort Test
SpaceX’s final planned Crew Dragon test flight before astronauts ride the commercial spaceship into orbit is scheduled for Saturday, when an unpiloted crew capsule will fire off the top of a Falcon 9 rocket shortly after launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to test the craft’s in-flight emergency escape capability. This video illustrates…