Tag: Kennedy Space Center
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NASA moon rocket SLS rolls out to “rebuilt” LC-39B ahead of Artemis 1 rehearsal
A moment more than a decade in the making. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for the Artemis 1 mission made its first trip down the crawlerway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday evening, March 17. Rollout first motion happened just before 6:00 pm EDT (22:00 UTC) for a planned 11-hour journey…
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Frosty Texas vehicles and groundwork in Florida ahead of Starship evolution
Future vehicles are continuing to take shape in what appears to be a multi-flow of preparations at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. While Booster 4 and Ship 20 continue to provide valuable ground test data at the launch site, modifications are being employed on future Boosters and Ships undergoing preparation down the road at…
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SpaceX keeping up the pace with Starlink Group 4-9 launch
SpaceX has launched another 47 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. The liftoff occurred at 9:25 AM EST (14:25 UTC) on Thursday, March 3, from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission marked SpaceX’s ninth launch of 2022 and their first launch of the month. The 45th Weather…
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Focus on Florida – SpaceX lays the ground work for East Coast Starship sites
A significant construction effort has begun in Florida to create a home port for Starship on the East Coast. With a launch facility at the historic 39A, potentially followed by pads at LC-49, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is likely to become the flagship launch site for Starship in the coming years, supplemented by Starbase…
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Focus on Florida – SpaceX lays the ground work for East Coast Starship sites
A significant construction effort has begun in Florida to create a home port for Starship on the East Coast. With a launch facility at the historic 39A, potentially followed by pads at LC-49, the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is likely to become the flagship launch site for Starship in the coming years, supplemented by Starbase…
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SpaceX conducts first orbital launch of 2022 with Starlink Group 4-5
SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink satellites to the fourth shell of the constellation for the first global orbital launch attempt of the year. Lifting off from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), the Starlink Group 4-5 mission lifted 49 Starlink v1.5 satellites southeastward from Kennedy into a 210 x 339 km low Earth orbit with…
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NASA, SpaceX launch IXPE x-ray observatory atop Falcon 9
NASA and SpaceX have launched the revolutionary Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) space observatory from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Thursday morning atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:00 a.m. EST (06:00 UTC). IXPE is a 325 kg, three-telescope polarized x-ray observatory. A joint venture between NASA and the Italian Space…
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SpaceX launches mostly-rookie Crew-3 mission to ISS
SpaceX and NASA have successfully launched four astronauts to the International Space Station on the Crew-3 mission. The crew took flight onboard a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon Endurance from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A Wednesday evening, November 10, at 9:03 PM EST (02:03 UTC on November 11). At the station, the four will spend…
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SpaceX launches Inspiration4, first all-private orbital mission
SpaceX has successfully launched the first-ever all-private orbital mission, Inspiration4. The first-of-its-kind flight saw four private astronauts take flight on a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon ahead of a three-day stay in Low Earth Orbit. The flight is part of a large fundraiser for St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital, a pediatric cancer hospital. Liftoff, from…
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Falcon Heavy’s first national security launch slips to October
The second launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in April 2019. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now The next launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket has been delayed from July to October to await the readiness of its U.S. military payload, and the following Falcon Heavy flight has been rescheduled from late…