Tag: Reusability
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SES agrees to launch another satellite on previously-flown Falcon 9 booster
A Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster lands at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Feb. 19 following a launch from nearby Kennedy Space Center with a space station cargo ship. Credit: SpaceX Six months after sending one of its communications satellites to orbit on the first re-flight of a SpaceX rocket, SES intends to…
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SpaceX rocket passes key preflight test before liftoff from California
The 10 Iridium Next communications satellites slated to launch Sunday from California were recently encapsulated inside the Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing. Credit: Iridium Juggling simultaneous launch campaigns on both coasts, a team of SpaceX engineers put a Falcon 9 rocket through a customary countdown rehearsal and hold-down firing Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base…
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U.S. Air Force taps SpaceX to launch next X-37B spaceplane mission
File photo of an X-37B spaceplane being encapsulated inside the nose cone of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket before its first test flight in April 2010. Credit. U.S. Air Force A month after an X-37B mini-space shuttle glided to a landing on Kennedy Space Center’s runway in Florida, the U.S. Air Force announced…
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AR1 engine clears milestone in step toward ending U.S. reliance on Russian propulsion
Aerojet Rocketdyne tests its AR1 engine preburner, which was built using a proprietary alloy and 3-D printing technology, at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Credit: Aerojet Rocketdyne A rocket engine that could power United Launch Alliance’s next-generation rocket has passed a major design review, clearing the way for full-scale hotfire testing starting next year and certification…
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First core of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket fired in Texas
The center section of SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket has been test-fired at the launch company’s test facility in Central Texas, a sign of progress toward the behemoth booster’s long-delayed maiden mission scheduled some time in the final months of 2017. The core stage is a modified version of the first stage that powers SpaceX’s…
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First core of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket fired in Texas
The center section of SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket has been test-fired at the launch company’s test facility in Central Texas, a sign of progress toward the behemoth booster’s long-delayed maiden mission scheduled some time in the final months of 2017. The core stage is a modified version of the first stage that powers SpaceX’s…
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Bulgaria’s first communications satellite to ride SpaceX’s second reused rocket
The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket descends to a landing platform in the Pacific Ocean following a Jan. 14 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Credit: SpaceX A U.S.-built, Bulgarian-owned broadcast satellite will launch in mid-June from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a previously-used SpaceX Falcon 9 booster that…
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Photos: SpaceX kicks off the week with Falcon 9 launch and landing
SpaceX started the week with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just after sunrise Monday, delivering a classified U.S. government spy satellite to orbit as the booster’s first stage returned to Cape Canaveral for a vertical landing. The nine-minute flight from launch to landing produced stunning imagery,…
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Photos: SpaceX kicks off the week with Falcon 9 launch and landing
SpaceX started the week with the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just after sunrise Monday, delivering a classified U.S. government spy satellite to orbit as the booster’s first stage returned to Cape Canaveral for a vertical landing. The nine-minute flight from launch to landing produced stunning imagery,…
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Watch spectacular video of Monday’s Falcon 9 blastoff and landing
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from the historic seaside launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Monday and powered a classified NRO spy satellite into space, then the launcher’s first stage descended to a vertical landing at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, producing spectacular video as the booster maneuvered in the…