Tag: Launches & Spacecraft

China’s commercial space activities continue to grow, with a solid rocket putting five privately built satellites into orbit. The third Kinetica-1 solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 11:03 p.m. EST on Monday (Jan. 22; 0403 GMT and 12:03 p.m. Beijing time on Jan. 23). Aboard were five Taijing satellites, all designed and built by Beijing-based private satellite maker Minospace. Related: The latest news about China’s space program CAS Space’s third Kinetica-1 rocket lifts off from Jiuquan spaceport on Jan. 22, 2024. (Image credit:…

China has launched its first space station mission of the year to resupply the orbital outpost. A Long March 7 rocket topped with the robotic Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island in the South China Sea on Wednesday (Jan. 17) at 9:27 a.m. EST (1427 GMT; 10:27 p.m. Beijing time). Tianzhou 7 is planned to rendezvous and dock with China’s three-module Tiangong space station around three hours after launch. The three crewmembers of the Shenzhou 17 mission onboard Tiangong will oversee the…

United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday (Jan. 8) at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT).  The launch — the first ever for the powerful Vulcan Centaur — sent Astrobotic’s private Peregrine moon lander toward Earth’s nearest neighbor, where it is expected to land on Feb. 23. Success in that effort would be historic: No private spacecraft has ever touched down softly on the lunar surface. Here we take a look at some of the first photos from this stunning nighttime launch.  Related: ULA’s Vulcan…

A historic moon mission will launch early Monday morning (Jan. 8), and you can watch the action live. United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT). The launch — the first ever for the powerful new rocket — will send the private Peregrine moon lander toward Earth’s nearest neighbor.  You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV, beginning at 1:30 a.m. EST (0630 GMT) on Monday. Related: 10…

After weeks of delays, the United Launch Alliance is ready to launch its first-ever Vulcan rocket — a test flight that will also send a private lunar lander to the moon in another first — but if you’re hoping to watch the historic liftoff, you’ll need to know when and how. For that, space fans, we’ve got you covered.  The Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch from ULA’s Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT) on its Cert-1 mission to prove…

SpaceX closed out 2023 with a fiery double test of its next Starship megarocket booster and spacecraft on Friday (Sept. 29), sharing some stunning videos of both vehicles in the process. The dual test of engines on the giant Starship and Super Heavy rocket stages at SpaceX’s Starbase proving ground in Boca Chica, Texas on Friday comes as the company prepares for its third Starship launch test, which is expected in early 2024.  “Just completed static fire of Flight 3 Super Heavy Booster,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X…

Rocket debris from China’s recent satellite launch fell to ground near inhabited areas, where bystanders caught the fiery touchdown on tape.  The China National Space Administratio launched two satellites into orbit on Monday (Dec. 25) at 10:26 p.m. EST (0326 GMT Dec. 26 or 11:26 a.m. local time in China) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. The Long March 3B rocket carried two satellites for China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System, which is roughly equivalent to the GPS system used in North America.  While the satellites were successfully…

The U.S. military’s X-37B space plane has embarked on its latest clandestine mission at last. The robotic X-37B lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida Thursday night (Dec. 28) at 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT on Dec. 29) after weeks of delays. SpaceX first two attempts to launch the secretive X-37-B military space plane earlier this month were delayed by bad weather and a ground equipment issue. Thursday’s launch marked the seventh liftoff for the X-37B to date but its first…