Tag: SpaceX
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Rocket Report: Tough times for Astra and Virgin; SpaceX upgrading launch pad
Welcome to Edition 6.19 of the Rocket Report! While we wait for SpaceX to launch the second full-scale test flight of Starship, a lot of the news this week involved companies with much smaller rockets. Astra is struggling to find enough funding to remain in business, and Virgin Galactic says it will fly its suborbital…
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U.S. military’s X-37B mini-shuttle to launch on SpaceX Falcon Heavy for the first time
The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle sits on the runway at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility after returning from its sixth mission on Nov. 12, 2022. Image: U.S. Space Force The U.S. military’s experimental spaceplane will soon soar to orbit using a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time, a Pentagon news release announced.…
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In a surprise move, the military’s spaceplane will launch on Falcon Heavy
The US military’s reusable X-37B spaceplane will launch on the next flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, scheduled for December 7, officials announced on Wednesday. This was unexpected because the spaceplane’s six previous missions launched on medium-lift Atlas V or Falcon 9 rockets. This next mission, the seventh by an X-37B spaceplane, will fly on…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket on 29th resupply mission to the Space Station
A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch the CRS-29 mission, sending more than 6,500 pounds of cargo and science experiments up to the International Space Station. Image: SpaceX/NASA Update 9:10 p.m. EST (0210 UTC): Successful liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket and Cargo Dragon separation. Rodents, water filters and a laser relay are…
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If the next Starship makes it through staging, you can call that a win
SpaceX will have answers to some burning questions in the first three minutes of the next Starship test flight. Did the upgrades to the Starship launch pad in Texas hold up to the rocket’s powerful thrust? Are the rocket’s Raptor engines more reliable than they were on the first Starship test flight in April? And…
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Capitol Hill budget battle may limit initial funding of some National Security Space Launch missions
A ULA Vulcan rocket during a testing campaign (left) and a Falcon Heavy rocket at liftoff (right). Both launch vehicles were tapped to launch National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions during the fifth and final ordering year procurement by the U.S. Space Systems Command. Images: ULA, SpaceX The U.S. Space Systems Command revealed the details…
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Launch Roundup: SpaceX pushes for 100 flights in the year with a ISS resupply, a rideshare mission, and more
SpaceX is actively working to reach its goal of 100 launches by the end of this year with four launches carrying many different types of payloads coming this week. Additionally, China has continued to upgrade its satellites in orbit with the 150th launch of its Chang Zheng 3B/E rocket. A Starlink mission started out the…
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Private astronaut mission likely first to use SpaceX’s new crew access tower
The crew access arm is manuevered into place on the newly constructed tower at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now. A crew access arm was lifted into place at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral on Monday, as SpaceX races to ready the pad for its first Crew Dragon…
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It’s almost showtime for SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket
SpaceX announced on Friday that the company is targeting “mid-November” for the second flight test of the Super Heavy rocket and its Starship upper stage. The company said the launch date is pending regulatory approval, which means that the Federal Aviation Administration and US Fish and Wildlife Service have yet to complete the environmental review…
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A historic Falcon 9 made a little more history Friday night
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—In three-and-a-half years of service, one of SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 boosters stands apart from the rest of the company’s rocket inventory. This booster, designated with the serial number B1058, has now flown 18 times. For its maiden launch on May 30, 2020, the rocket propelled NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken…