Tag: Reusability
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SpaceX wins contract to launch NASA’s PACE Earth science mission
A Falcon 9 rocket stands vertical at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad in this file photo. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX has won an $80 million contract to launch a NASA environmental research satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in late 2022 to collect data on ocean ecosystems and clouds, a mission that…
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Rocket Lab begins 2020 launch campaign with dedicated NRO mission
After successfully launching six missions and over 20 payloads to orbit in 2019, Rocket Lab conducted its first launch of 2020 using its Electron rocket. The mission lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand to carry the classified NROL-151 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The 14-day launch window is set…
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Live coverage: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with more Starlink satellites
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the next Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s fourth batch of Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Spaceflight Now members can watch a live view of the Falcon 9 rocket…
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Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket launches on first mission of 2020
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the next Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission will launch SpaceX’s third batch of Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Spaceflight Now members can watch a live feed of the launch pad. Our live…
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Starlink ‘train’ traces path across twilight skies
This view of the train of 60 Starlink satellites was captured Nov. 11 from Castaic, California. This view was created by merging four long exposure images. Credit: William G. Hartenstein The 60 Starlink satellites deployed Monday by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket have traced paths across twilight skies around the world this week, but their…
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Photos: Falcon 9 launches with 60 Starlink satellites
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the heaviest payload ever launched by SpaceX took off Monday morning from Cape Canaveral with 60 satellites for then company’s Starlink broadband network. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket lifted off at 9:56 a.m. EST (1456 GMT) Monday, powered by nine Merlin 1D engines generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust. The kerosene-burning…
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Successful launch continues deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink network
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral at 9:56 a.m. EST (1456 GMT) Monday. Credit: Steven Young/Spaceflight Now Sixty upgraded satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network rocketed into orbit Monday from Florida’s Space Coast, debuting performance enhancements and notching new firsts in SpaceX’s list of rocket reuse accomplishments. SpaceX’s second batch of Starlink…
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SpaceX readies upgraded Starlink satellites for launch
Artist’s illustration of a Starlink satellite. Credit: SpaceX New satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink broadband network set for launch Monday from Cape Canaveral will debut several performance and safety upgrades, but they do not include changes to reduce the brightness of the satellites, a modification SpaceX says it will introduce on future Starlink craft to mitigate their…
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SpaceX to reuse payload fairing for first time on Nov. 11 launch
SpaceX retrieved two halves of the payload fairing from a Falcon Heavy launch April 11 . Credit: Elon Musk/SpaceX A SpaceX launch set for Nov. 11 will mark the first Falcon 9 mission to use a payload fairing from a previous flight, the company announced Tuesday, shortly after SpaceX engineers at Cape Canaveral test-fired the…
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X-37B’s return to Cape Canaveral in images
The U.S. Air Force has released an infrared video and additional images from Sunday’s landing of the military’s X-37B spaceplane in Florida after a top secret mission that lasted more than two years. The unpiloted spaceplane touched down at the Shuttle Landing Facility runway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 3:51 a.m. EDT (0751…