Tag: Launches & Spacecraft

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched two European navigation satellites tonight (Sept. 17) and then landed safely, acing its 22nd mission. The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying two spacecraft for Europe’s Galileo satnav constellation, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida tonight at 6:50 p.m. EDT (1850 GMT).  The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth safely as planned, landing at sea on the SpaceX droneship “Just Read the Instructions” about 8.5 minutes after launch. According to a SpaceX mission description, it was the 22nd liftoff and landing for this…

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NASA’s highly anticipated Europa Clipper probe bound for an icy moon of Jupiter is on track for its liftoff next month. Europa Clipper, which will study the potentially life-harboring Jupiter moon Europa up close, passed a crucial technical review called Key Decision Point E (KDP-E) today (Sept. 9). The good news means that Clipper can proceed into final preparations for launch, which is scheduled to take place atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Oct. 10. “I am thrilled to say that we…

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Blue Origin’s huge New Glenn rocket won’t debut next month after all. New Glenn, the company’s partially reusable new heavy lifter, had been scheduled to launch NASA’s twin ESCAPADE Mars probes from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida during an eight-day window that opens on Oct. 13. But that’s no longer the plan. “The agency’s decision to stand down was based on a review of launch preparations and discussions with Blue Origin, the Federal Aviation Administration and Space Launch Delta 45 Range Safety Organization, as well as NASA’s Launch Services Program…

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SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets in just over an hour early Saturday (Aug. 31) and nailed back-to-back booster landings three days after a recent failure. The two Falcon 9 launches — which lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base, respectively — delivered a total of 42 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, with each rocket’s first stage acing an offshore landing. The successful SpaceX landings followed a failed Falcon 9 rocket landing on Aug. 28 during a booster’s 23rd flight, a record…

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Two Mars-bound smallsats that will fly on the highly anticipated debut of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket have arrived at their launch site in Florida. The satellite duo, known as ESCAPADE (“Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers”), are set to launch atop New Glenn no earlier than Oct. 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. They’ll arrive in Mars orbit in September 2025, on a NASA mission to study how incoming charged particles from the sun interact with and alter the planet’s magnetic environment.  The two coordinated…

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Well, that was quick. SpaceX can resume flying its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced this evening (Aug. 30). The news comes just two days after a Falcon 9 first stage crashed while attempting to land after a successful launch of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites, spurring an investigation overseen by the FAA. That investigation is ongoing, but the agency has un-grounded the Falcon 9 nonetheless. “The SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle may return to flight operations while the overall investigation of the anomaly during the Starlink Group…

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The four astronauts of SpaceX’s private Polaris Dawn mission that will perform the first commercial spacewalk are taking delays to their launch in stride. The mission was initially slated to launch Aug. 27, but was delayed to Aug. 28 due to technical issues. Polaris Dawn was then postponed two more days, to no earlier than Friday, Aug. 30, due to splashdown weather concerns for the end of the mission. Now, the launch depends upon the completion of a mishap investigation required by the Federal Aviation Administration,…

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SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded, at least for a little while. A Falcon 9 successfully launched 21 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites this morning (Aug. 28), sending them to orbit on the record-breaking 23rd mission for the rocket’s first stage. That booster encountered a problem during its return to Earth, however, toppling over shortly after landing at sea on a SpaceX droneship. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced today that it’s requiring an investigation into the failed touchdown — and that the Falcon 9 won’t fly again until…

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2024-08-20T20:08:06.397Z Polaris Dawn crew 1 week from launch (Image credit: Polaris Program / John Kraus) The four private astronauts of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission are a week away from launch after two years of training for a mission that, they hope, will include the world’s first private spacewalk.  American billionaire Jared Isaacman, who previously backed his private Inspiration4 spaceflight with SpaceX, will command the Polaris Dawn mission, the first of three new spaceflights he’s purchased from SpaceX.  Isaacman, pilot Scott “Kidd” Poteet, and mission specialists Sarah Gillis and Anna Menon,…

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For avid skywatchers around the world, this week begins with trying to get a glimpse of the Jupiter-bound JUICE spacecraft that’s set to swing past both the moon and Earth over the span of just one day — a combination scientists have deemed to be the world’s first. The European Space Agency (ESA) launched JUICE in April last year to explore Jupiter and three of its biggest moons — Ganymede, Callisto and Europa, all of which are thought to contain oceans of liquid water beneath their icy shells. The spacecraft’s…

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