Tag: Reusability
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Landed Falcon 9 booster sails into Los Angeles
For the first time on the West Coast, a recovered Falcon 9 first stage has made it back to port, intact. Following its role with the successful launch of ten Iridium NEXT satellites, the booster completed a bullseye return on to the deck of SpaceX’s drone ship, before arriving in the Port of Los Angeles…
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Falcon 9 booster, first recovered off West Coast, back in port
The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket launched Saturday has returned to port in Southern California after landing on a floating platform in the Pacific Ocean, ready for refurbishment and potential reuse on a future mission. The 15-story booster and its barge, named “Just Read the Instructions,” were towed into the Port of Los…
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SES 10 telecom satellite in Florida for launch on reused SpaceX rocket
A Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster descends to a propulsive landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean on April 8, 2016. The same booster is assigned to fly again next month with the SES 10 communications satellite. Credit: SpaceX A European-built communications satellite has arrived at Cape Canaveral for fueling and final launch…
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Falcon 9 rocket ready for all-important return to service Saturday
The Falcon 9 rocket with 10 Iridium Next communications satellites inside SpaceX’s hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. SpaceX rolled a fully-assembled Falcon 9 booster out of its hangar and lifted it on top of a launch pad Friday for the first time since an explosion grounded the commercial rocket last year, setting the…
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Timeline for Falcon 9 rocket’s launch of 10 Iridium satellites
Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with the first 10 next-generation satellites for Iridium’s voice and data relay fleet. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket will lift off Saturday at 9:54:39 a.m. PST (12:54:39 p.m. EST; 1754:39 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Data source: SpaceX T-0:00:00: Liftoff After…
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SpaceX, Air Force assess more landing pads, Dragon processing at LZ-1
As SpaceX continues its efforts to press forward with Return To Flight later this month, a draft Supplemental Environmental Assessment report for Launch Complex 13 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for construction of two additional landing pads to accommodate the simultaneous return of three core stages of a Falcon Heavy rocket has been…
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SpaceX return-to-flight slips to early January
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett SpaceX’s first mission since a rocket explosion on a Florida launch pad is now scheduled for early January, when a Falcon 9 booster is set to begin a 70-satellite deployment for Iridium’s next-generation voice and…
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Privately-developed rocket aces abort test
Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, launched a dramatic flight test over West Texas on Wednesday to verify the performance of an escape system on its reusable suborbital launcher designed to loft space tourists, researchers and commercial astronauts on short rides to the edge of space. The stubby, single-stage New Shepard…
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Privately-developed rocket aces abort test
Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, launched a dramatic flight test over West Texas on Wednesday to verify the performance of an escape system on its reusable suborbital launcher designed to loft space tourists, researchers and commercial astronauts on short rides to the edge of space. The stubby, single-stage New Shepard…
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SES stands by SpaceX after getting ‘good discount’ on reused rocket
Three of SpaceX’s recovered Falcon 9 boosters inside a hangar at launch pad 39A. Credit: SpaceX One of SpaceX’s most loyal commercial customers, the European-based telecom satellite operator SES, remains committed to flying a spacecraft aboard a “refurbished” Falcon 9 booster as soon as the company resumes rocket flights, officials said. SpaceX and SES announced…