Tag: KSC
-
Launch Roundup: New Glenn and Starship headline a week dominated by SpaceX missions
SpaceX dominated this week’s launch manifest with two Falcon 9 missions and the seventh flight of its Starship rocket. The two Falcon 9 missions will see the launches of a Transporter rideshare mission, and two Moon landers. Blue Origin’s New Glenn achieved orbit on Thursday morning following the scrub of its maiden flight attempt on…
-
Launch Roundup: SpaceX, China, and Russia maintain busy launch manifests through the holidays
At the start of this week, Monday, Dec. 23, there had been 24 launch attempts worldwide. There was no let-up during the holiday period, with six further launch attempts taking place. The SpaceX launch manifest for this week included a single customer payload and three batches of Starlink satellites. SpaceX’s target of 136 launches for…
-
Launch Roundup: Sentinel 1C and PROBA 3 among ten planned launches
This week is busy in spaceflight, with 10 orbital launches planned throughout the week. China has, as expected, continued its launch cadence from last week with three more launches this week. SpaceX planned to launch five Falcon 9 missions in five days with the launches of four Starlink missions and one customer payload but has…
-
Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 launches continue, Rocket Lab to launch two Electrons, Russia to fly to ISS
Following the sixth flight of SpaceX’s Starship on Tuesday, eight additional orbital launches were planned worldwide. Rocket Lab launched an experimental hypersonic testbed payload using a modified Electron from Wallops. What’s more, a second Electron launched a batch of nanosatellites into low-Earth orbit from New Zealand less than 24 hours later. Meanwhile, SpaceX continued to…
-
Starship preparations to return to the Roberts Road facility
SpaceX is laying the groundwork for expansion at its Roberts Road facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Driven by a commitment to future advancements, SpaceX continuously enhances its infrastructure along the Space Coast. These developments include new buildings, property expansions, and Starship’s production in Florida. Starship’s History in Florida SpaceX has already made…
-
Launch Roundup: SpaceX flies more customer payloads and Ariane 6 debuts
As many as four SpaceX Falcon 9 missions and the long-delayed inaugural flight of Ariane 6 make up the roster for this week’s launch schedule. The four SpaceX missions will be split evenly between Starlink and two payloads for other customers. At least one of the SpaceX missions is likely to be affected by the…
-
Lockheed Martin, NASA lining up next Orion spacecraft for Artemis III and IV
Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin has the spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis III and IV lunar landing missions in production alongside the Artemis II vehicle that is going into final assembly at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Simultaneous assembly and test of three Orions is becoming the norm, as the Orion program works towards…
-
Blue Origin picking up the pace at the Cape
While SpaceX has captured headlines with its first test flight of Starship, Blue Origin, the company founded by rival billionaire Jeff Bezos, is ramping up work on its own reusable heavy-lift rocket and a reusable Starship-like vehicle. The New Glenn rocket, listed as having a payload capacity of 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit…
-
Cargo Dragon CRS-27 docks with ISS
The International Space Station has received another cargo delivery, essential for keeping the Station’s seven-person crew supplied with experiments, consumables, and equipment during its operation in low Earth orbit. This mission, CRS-27, launched on Tuesday, March 14 at 8:30 PM EDT (00:30 UTC on Wednesday, March 15) from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center. It…
-
SpaceX conducts cross-country Starlink doubleheader
SpaceX ended January with and began February with two Starlink missions. These launches occurred two days apart from separate launch sites. The first such mission — Starlink Group 2-6 — lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at 8:15 AM PST…