Tag: SpaceX
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SpaceX cargo launch now set for April 13
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo carrier prepared for launch on a previous mission. Credit: SpaceX The launch of SpaceX’s next resupply run to the International Space Station has been rescheduled for April 13, officials said Tuesday. The Falcon 9 rocket’s liftoff from Cape Canaveral was due for no earlier than…
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Elon Musk makes SpaceX photos free for public use
Photo via SpaceX/Falcon 9 Vertical Talk about responsive. Less than an hour after Elon Musk announced that SpaceX would post photos for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, he decided to go for the full public domain, when pressed by another’s tweet. Also, kudos to Musk for his new Dr. Evil-inspired profile pic. SpaceX…
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KSC Pads continue preparations for future vehicles
Both of the iconic pads at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) are being revamped for their roles with new launch vehicles. Pad 39B is set to receive additional Catacomb Roof reinforcements to cope with the massive SLS Block 1B rocket, while Pad 39A’s landscape continues to change with modifications at the pad and the construction of…
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SpaceX swaps order of next two Falcon 9 launches
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral before a liftoff in April 2014. Credit: NASA/Glenn Benson Confronted with pesky problems in the Falcon 9 rocket’s helium pressurization system, SpaceX has shuffled the order of the next two launches, choosing to go ahead with the liftoff…
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Spaceport America set for SpaceX reusability testing
SpaceX’s reusability aspirations will receive further testing at Spaceport America, in the shape of the first successfully recovered Falcon 9 first stage. The New Mexico spaceport will host the recovered booster – potentially the core stage from the upcoming CRS-6 mission, if recovered – for an additional flight to find hardware limits, paving the way for…
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SpaceX puts off next Falcon 9 launch
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s next launch with a European-built communications satellite has been delayed to no earlier than March 28 to study a problem with a helium pressurization system on the Falcon 9 rocket, officials said Tuesday. The liftoff was set for…
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Weeks from another launch, SpaceX keeping pace with manifest
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket inside SpaceX’s hangar at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: SpaceX The next launch in SpaceX’s busy manifest this year is scheduled for March 21, when a Falcon 9 rocket will take off from Cape Canaveral and deliver Turkmenistan’s first satellite into orbit. The liftoff from SpaceX’s…
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NASA orders missions to resupply space station in 2017
A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft approaches the International Space Station in September 2014. Credit: NASA NASA has ordered four additional launches to deliver cargo to the International Space Station in 2017 — three from SpaceX and one from Orbital ATK — to cover the research lab’s logistics needs until a new set of resupply contracts take…
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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin dealt setback in patent dispute with SpaceX over rocket landings
The “autonomous spaceport drone ship” that SpaceX built to recover the Falcon 9 first stage. Elon Musk’s SpaceX has won a key preliminary ruling in its dispute with Blue Origin over a patent received by the Jeff Bezos-backed commercial space venture covering the landing of rockets at sea. Elon Musk announces the opening of SpaceX’s Seattle-area engineering office.…
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Commercial crew demo missions manifested for Dragon 2 and CST-100
Mission planners at NASA have installed four Commercial Crew demonstration missions into the International Space Station (ISS) manifest. Both SpaceX’s Dragon 2 (V2) and Boeing’s CST-100 will conduct uncrewed and crewed qualification missions – beginning as early as December, 2016 – prior to the awarding of the US Crew Vehicle -1 (USCV-1) mission for NASA.…