Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX Falcon 9 Static Fires ahead of OG2 RTF mission
SpaceX has conducted the key milestone of a Static Fire test at its Space Launch Complex – 40 (SLC-40) pad on Friday. The debut launch of the upgraded “Full Thrust” Falcon 9 is set to loft eleven ORBCOMM-2 (OG2) satellites, marking the rocket’s Return To Flight. The launch date is now scheduled as December 20,…
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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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SpaceX receives firm order for its first crew flight
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX Fresh off a major design review, SpaceX’s human-rated Dragon spaceship has received the first of up to six firm mission orders from NASA under the company’s $2.6 billion commercial crew contract. The structure of the commercial crew deals with SpaceX and Boeing give each company at…
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SpaceX’s Elon Musk gets in the Thanksgiving spirit on ‘The Big Bang Theory’
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, surprises Howard Wolowitz (played by Simon Helberg) on the CBS TV series “The Big Bang Theory.” (Credit: CBS) You wouldn’t think Elon Musk was a warm and fuzzy guy, based on this year’s biography of the hard-driving CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, but on this week’s…
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Falcon 9 first stage trucks into the Cape ahead of OG-2 mission
SpaceX’s Return To Flight (RTF) milestone remains on track for December, as the Falcon 9 first stage – tasked with the launch of the ORBCOMM-2 mission – arrived at its Cape Canaveral launch site early on Friday. The launch of the OG-2 mission will also be the debut of the Full Thrust version of the…
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It’s official: NASA signs up to send crew on SpaceX’s Dragon space taxi
An artist’s conception shows SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule en route to the International Space Station. (Credit: SpaceX) NASA has ordered its first mission from SpaceX to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, six months after placing a similar order with Boeing. “It’s really exciting to see SpaceX and Boeing with hardware in flow for…
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SpaceX trumps United Launch Alliance in bid for Air Force GPS-3 launch contract
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the DSCOVR satellite in February. (Credit: SpaceX) SpaceX is poised to win an Air Force national security launch contract by default because its archrival, United Launch Alliance, has dropped out of the competition. ULA said this week that it decided not to bid on the Air Force contract for launching…
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ULA sits out Air Force launch competition
File photo of an Atlas 5 rocket launch. Credit: ULA United Launch Alliance said Monday it did not submit a proposal in a competition to launch a U.S. Air Force GPS navigation satellite, apparently relinquishing the contract to rival SpaceX, the only other company certified to launch the mission. The Air Force wanted both companies…