Tag: SpaceX
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Launch Roundup: Polaris Dawn, ISS crewed launch headline busy week
This week’s manifest features four Falcon 9 launches, including the highly anticipated Polaris Dawn crewed mission, a mission carrying AST SpaceMobile’s first five cellphone-compatible broadband satellites, and the delayed launch of two more satellites for Europe’s mid-Earth orbit Galileo constellation. Additionally, Roscosmos has launched the Soyuz MS-26 crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS).…
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SpaceX surmounts challenging weather, launches Polaris Dawn astronaut mission
The SpaceX Crew Dragon Resilience separates from the Falcon 9 upper stage, beginning the Polaris Dawn mission on Sept. 10, 2024. Image: SpaceX Update 6:06 a.m. EDT: Crew Dragon Resilience separated from the Falcon 9 upper stage. Despite some challenging weather at the opening of the launch window, SpaceX managed to send the Polaris Dawn…
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SpaceX launches historic Polaris Dawn mission
SpaceX has launched a mission that will not only see humans travel the farthest away from Earth since Apollo 17 in 1972 but also conduct the first-ever commercial spacewalk. This is in addition to nearly 40 different science experiments and an attempt to transmit data from space through the Starlink network. The Polaris Dawn mission,…
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SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket on national security mission for the NRO
A Falcon 9 lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California on the NROL-113 mission. Image: SpaceX. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with an undisclosed number of satellites on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The spacecraft, which are believed to be Starshield satellites, make up the third batch of what the…
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SpaceX launches 7,000th Starlink satellite to date on Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the Starlink 8-11 mission on Sept. 5, 2024. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now Update 1:12 p.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 21 Starlink satellites. SpaceX managed to find good enough weather to launch its 85th Falcon 9 rocket…
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Launch Roundup: Vega retired after final launch; Polaris Dawn lift off
This week, rockets will launch from all over the globe. China’s CASC sent a Chang Zheng 4B on its 50th successful mission to start the week. The final launch of Arianespace’s Vega rocket went off without a hitch. Polaris Dawn launched four private astronauts to low-Earth orbit, during which the world’s first private EVA out…
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SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 return to flight mission
A Falcon 9 rocket streaks across the skies above Florida’s Space Coast during the Starlink 8-10 mission. This was SpaceX’s return to flight mission, following a failed booster landing on Wednesday. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update 4:04 a.m. EDT: SpaceX launched the mission and landed its first stage booster on its droneship, ‘Just Read the…
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SpaceX set a launch turnaround record with back-to-back, coast-to-coast Falcon 9 launches
File: A Falcon 9 rocket stands ready to launch a Starlink mission. Image: SpaceX Update 5:06 a.m. EDT: SpaceX launched the mission and landed B1081 on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ Following its second return to flight mission in as many months with a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX proceeded to set a…
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Sparks are flying day and night as SpaceX preps Starship pad to catch a rocket
Pretty much every day for the last couple of weeks, workers wielding welding guns and torches have climbed onto SpaceX’s Starship launch pad in South Texas to make last-minute upgrades ahead of the next test flight of the world’s largest rocket. Livestreams of the launch site provided by LabPadre and NASASpaceflight.com have shown sparks raining…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 booster collapses in a fireball on the droneship, ending a streak of 267 successful landings
SpaceX lost its flight leader booster, tail number B1062, during its landing attempt on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ This was the booster’s 23rd flight. Image: SpaceX Update 5:20 a.m. EDT: SpaceX is scrubbing the Starlink 9-5 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base to allow more time to review the data from the B1062…