Tag: Kennedy Space Center
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Solar Orbiter arrives at Kennedy Space Center for launch preps
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility shortly after 9 p.m. EDT Friday (0100 GMT Saturday) after a trans-Atlantic journey from Germany aboard an Antonov An-124 transport plane. Credit: ESA/J. Fiebrich The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived in Florida late Friday after a trans-Atlantic journey from a test center…
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NASA’s VIPER rover in development for scouting mission to moon’s south pole
NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is a mobile robot that will roam around the moon’s south pole looking for water ice. Credit: NASA Ames/Daniel Rutter Building on a mission canceled last year, NASA is developing a mobile robot named VIPER for launch in 2022 to scout for water ice at the moon’s…
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X-37B’s return to Cape Canaveral in images
The U.S. Air Force has released an infrared video and additional images from Sunday’s landing of the military’s X-37B spaceplane in Florida after a top secret mission that lasted more than two years. The unpiloted spaceplane touched down at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:51 a.m. EDT (0751…
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U.S. military’s X-37B spaceplane lands in Florida
Members of the X-37B recovery team, wearing hazardous material suits, approached the X-37B spaceplane for safety checks after the vehicle landed Sunday on the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: U.S. Air Force The U.S. Air Force’s reusable Boeing-built X-37B spaceplane returned to Earth early Sunday with a touchdown…
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British-built solar probe shipping to Florida launch site before Brexit deadline
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft is ready for shipment from a test center in Ottobrunn, Germany, to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. Credit: Airbus Defense and Space The European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft — assembled in Britain and set for liftoff in February — has completed environmental testing in Germany…
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Hardware arrives in Florida for Crew Dragon in-flight abort test
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Oct. 4 to correct reference to SuperDraco abort engines. SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft for the in-flight abort test inside a processing facility at Cape Canaveral. Credit: NASA/SpaceX Images taken inside SpaceX facilities at Cape Canaveral and released by NASA Thursday show the Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 booster assigned to an in-flight…
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SLS pathfinder stage arrives at Florida launch site
The SLS core stage pathfinder was offloaded from NASA’s Pegasus barge Friday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: William Harwood/CBS News A steel tube built as a stand-in for the core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center for a series of rehearsals to hone the skills…
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SLS launch platform returns to pad 39B
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Sept. 11 with pad arrival. The Space Launch System’s mobile tower emerged from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday morning to begin the 4.2-mile trip back to pad 39B. Credit: Spaceflight Now The towering mobile platform for NASA’s Space Launch System emerged from the Vehicle Assembly Building at…
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Spaceport survey finds little damage from Hurricane Dorian
The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is pictured during an aerial survey Thursday after Hurricane Dorian passed off Florida’s east coast. Credit: NASA/Cory Huston Launch facilities at Cape Canaveral were spared any significant damage as Hurricane Dorian churned northward off Florida’s east coast earlier this week, and employees at the spaceport resumed…
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Watch SpaceX Dragon launch pad escape system testing
A slide wire escape system has been undergoing tests at launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in readiness for the first SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. The system could be used by astronauts and ground crews to evacuate the launch pad in an emergency and is…