Tag: Aerospace
NASA and SpaceX targeting mid-to-late May for first astronaut launch, despite coronavirus pandemic
NASA and SpaceX issued a media accreditation invitation on Wednesday for their Demonstration Mission 2 (aka Demo-2) commercial crew launch – the first in the commercial crew program that will carry actual astronauts to space. The invite includes the current proposed timeframe for the mission, listed as no “no earlier…
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SpaceX’s latest Starlink launch included an unforeseen engine issue
While successful in its primary mission, the latest SpaceX launch wasn’t without unexpected issues: The secondary mission of recovering the Falcon 9 booster with a controlled landing failed, for the second launch in a row, and SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk also confirmed that one of the rocket’s engines…
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SpaceX breaks a Falcon 9 rocket re-use record with successful Starlink launch
SpaceX has successfully launched and deployed its sixth batch of 60 Starlink satellites, further growing its constellation for the internet broadband system it plans to launch for customers starting later this year in the U.S. and Canada. This brings SpaceX’s total Starlink constellation size to 360 spacecraft, extending the company’s…
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Watch SpaceX launch 60 more Starlink satellites and attempt a Falcon 9 re-use record
[embedded content] SpaceX is launching its latest Starlink mission today, with a takeoff time of 8:16 AM EDT (5:16 AM PDT) currently scheduled to take place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch will carry 60 more Starlink broadband internet satellites to their low Earth orbit destination, using a…
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Rocket Lab to acquire satellite hardware maker Sinclair Interplanetary
Rocket Lab is acquiring Sinclair Interplanetary, a manufacturer of spacecraft hardware based in Toronto that has provided hardware for more than 90 satellites sent to orbit to date, including AstroDigital, BlackSky, ALE and Rocket Lab itself. Sinclair also worked on The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2, which is an experimental spacecraft…
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Launches from Europe’s spaceport are suspended in light of COVID-19
Despite indications just a few days ago that launches as soon as later this month were on track as planned, Arianespace announced on Monday that they made the tough call to suspend operations at the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s spaceport located in French Guiana. This includes suspending any launch campaigns…
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