Tag: Launches & Spacecraft

SpaceX’s next astronaut mission has been delayed by a powerful storm. The company had been planning to launch the Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 26). However, that target date has slipped by at least two days, thanks to a maelstrom named Helene. Helene is a tropical storm at the moment, but it’s expected to slam into Florida’s Gulf Coast on Thursday as a Category 3 hurricane. Thus, NASA and SpaceX now aim to launch…

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China launched separate sets of Earth-observation and “Internet of Things” satellites into orbit on Friday (Sept. 20) on two different missions. The action began at 12:11 a.m EDT (0411 GMT, or 12:11 p.m. Beijing time) on Friday, when a Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China. Insulation tiles fell away from the rocket’s payload fairing as it climbed into cloudy skies above the spaceport.  Aboard were six remote-sensing satellites for Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST), a commercial spinoff from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.…

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This week, NASA is sending up a rescue mission to the International Space Station. On Thursday (Sept. 26), NASA astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos will launch to the International space Station (ISS) on SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission. Two other NASA astronauts, Zena Cardman and Stephanie Wilson, both mission specialists, were supposed to be aboard as well.  But Wilson and Cardman were cut from the flight in order to make room for two other NASA astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who are currently stuck…

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India has greenlit four major space projects, including the Chandrayaan-4 moon sample return mission, a Venus orbiter and the nations first space station module. The Indian government allocated $2.7 billion for the ambitious projects, a substantial investment that officials say is certain to encourage “maximum participation” from the nation’s burgeoning private sector.  “India’s ambitious space vision and roadmap have now been given the wings to fly high,” ISRO chairman S. Somanath told Indian news channel NDTV.  The $2.7 billion was approved on Wednesday (Sept. 18) by the nation’s cabinet chaired…

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Rocket Lab aborted a launch at the last second today (Sept. 18). The company’s Electron rocket was scheduled to launch five “Internet of Things” satellites for the French company Kinéis today at 7 p.m. EDT (2300 GMT) from New Zealand. The countdown clock reached zero, and Electron appeared to fire up its first-stage engines. But they immediately shut down, resulting in an abort. A Rocket Lab Electron vehicle stands on the pad just after a last-second launch abort on Sept. 18, 2024. (Image credit: Rocket Lab) “Since today’s mission required…

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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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