Tag: Reusability
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SpaceX eyes Dec. 19 for first launch since June
File photo of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX is targeting Dec. 19 for a critical commercial launch that will double as the debut flight of an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket and the company’s return-to-flight mission after a failure six months ago halted SpaceX’s busy launch manifest. Final preparations are underway inside SpaceX’s rocket…
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SpaceX aims to resume Falcon 9 flights in mid-December
File photo of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket before launch of its first mission for Orbcomm in July 2014. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX has shipped to Cape Canaveral the first Falcon 9 booster equipped with upgrades to haul heavier cargoes to orbit, aiming for a mid-December launch in the space transport company’s first mission since a June…
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Bezos-backed Blue Origin achieves rocket landing
A suborbital rocket booster built by Blue Origin, an entrepreneurial space firm founded by Internet tycoon Jeff Bezos, streaked into space in the skies over West Texas and descended to a pinpoint propulsive touchdown on a landing pad, the company announced Tuesday. The landing makes the New Shepard rocket, named in honor of Mercury astronaut…
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Falcon 9 rocket passes last major preflight test
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: SpaceX Ground crews plan to load the final cargo into SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship Saturday after the capsule’s Falcon 9 rocket booster briefly fired up on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral for a flight readiness check. The Falcon 9 rocket ignited its…
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SpaceX aims for another rocket landing experiment Sunday
Artist’s concept of a Falcon 9 booster after landing on SpaceX’s ocean-going platform. Credit: Jon Ross Keeping with its mantra of fly, fix and fly again, SpaceX says its engineers have resolved an engine valve problem that kept one of its Falcon 9 boosters from successfully touching down on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean…
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World launch markets look toward rocket reusability
What was once thought to be a pipe dream of having a reusable system of rocket and rocket components to reduce the overall cost of spaceflight is now gaining significant traction, as SpaceX leads the way toward a fully reusable first stage, while the United Launch Alliance and the European Space Agency move toward reusability…
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Throttle valve blamed for Falcon 9’s unsuccessful landing
SpaceX engineers have narrowed the cause of last week’s unsuccessful landing of a Falcon 9 rocket booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean on a commanding issue with an engine throttle valve, according to Elon Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive. Musk posted the update on Twitter late Saturday, and he confirmed the…
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Fine-tuning Falcon 9 landing focuses on throttle valve response
SpaceX is getting ever closer to successfully returning the first stage of its Falcon 9 v1.1, with the latest attempt showing the effort is now focused on fine-tuning. The return of the first stage used during the CRS-6 Dragon launch was the best landing attempt to date, with a slower than expected throttle valve response parameter…
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Photos: SpaceX’s debris-strewn landing barge back in port
This image, shared with Spaceflight Now by Twitter user @petr_bourdais, was posted anonymously on Reddit. Returning to port late Thursday under the cover of darkness, SpaceX’s rocket recovery platform has moored at a dock in Jacksonville, Florida, for unloading of charred debris from Tuesday’s crash landing of a Falcon 9 booster. The 14-story booster was…
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