For the second time this week, SpaceX will push the envelope by flying a Falcon 9 rocket for a 16th time. The rocket is scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40 at 12:40 a.m. EDT (0440 UTC) carrying more Starlink satellites into orbit. On Sunday night another booster lifted off from the same launch pad becoming the first Falcon 9 rocket to make a 16th flight.
The Blue Origin BE-4 first stage engines of United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket were successfully test fired June 7 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: ULA.
The debut of United Launch Alliance’s next generation rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, is now scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2023, following an investigation into a mishap that destroyed an upper-stage test article, company CEO and President Tory Bruno said during a media briefing on Thursday.
A stellar nursery in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (STScI)
Celebrating the James Webb Space Telescope’s first year of science operations, NASA released a mesmerising new image of a nearby stellar nursery where 50 or so sun-size stars are blazing or just switching on in shimmering clouds of interstellar hydrogen.
The final Ariane 5 roars away from the Guiana Space Centre on July 5, 2023. Photo: ESA – S. Corvaja.
Europe is facing months without its own independent access to space for large satellites following the retirement of its heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket this week after notching up its 117th and final mission over 27 years of operations.
Booster 1058 is a distinctive member of the SpaceX’s Falcon 9 fleet because it was emblazoned with a red NASA ‘worm’ logo prior to the May 2020 flight of Demo-2, the first Cred Dragon mission to carry astronauts. This photo of the soot-covered booster was captured in December 2020 after the CRS-21 space station cargo resupply mission, its fourth launch and landing. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now.
SpaceX will test the limits of its reusable Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday evening when it launches a booster on a record-breaking 16th flight. The launch was originally scheduled before dawn on Sunday but SpaceX opted to target a rare 12-hour-later backup opportunity in the evening, 13 minutes after sunset. The Falcon 9 is now scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral at 8:36 p.m. EDT (0036 UTC Monday) with the fifth batch of second-generation Starlink satellites.
SpaceX lofted another batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit on Friday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A Falcon 9, carrying 48 satellites inside its payload fairing, lifted off at 12:29:50 p.m. PDT (3:29:50 p.m. EDT; 1929:50 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4-East.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on the Starlink 5-3 mission with 48 Starlink internet satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Europe’s venerable Ariane 5 rocket blasted off on its 117th and final flight Wednesday, successfully boosting two communications satellites into orbit but leaving the European space program without a large satellite launcher of its own until a delayed successor comes on line.
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter’s navigation camera captured the rotorcraft in shadow during its 52nd flight on April 26, 2023. This image was finally received after Ingenuity was out of communication for 63 days. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
NASA engineers are prepping the miniature Mars helicopter Ingenuity for its 53rd flight across the surface of the Red Planet after re-establishing contact following a two-month radio blackout.
The final Ariane 5 rocket rolls to the launch pad on Monday, July 3, 2023. Image: ESA – S. Corvaja.
Europe’s workhorse Ariane 5 rocket is being retired after 27 years of service. Check this page for live coverage of the countdown and launch. Liftoff from the Guiana Space Center, the European spaceport in South America, is now scheduled for no earlier than Wednesday, July 5. The 65-minute launch window window runs 7 p.m. to 8:05 p.m. local time (6:00-7:05 p.m. EDT / 2200-2305 UTC).
Aerial view of the launch of Ariane 5 V198 on November 26, 2010, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Image: ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE – Optique Video CSG – L. Mira.
Europe’s iconic Ariane 5 rocket, with its liquid hydrogen-fueled core stage and solid rocket boosters, has guaranteed Europe’s access to space, providing a unique capacity for launching satellites and spacecraft into precise orbits over almost three decades.
The last Ariane 5 rocket arrives at the launch pad for its last satellite delivery mission. Image: Arianespace.
The last Ariane 5 rocket was hauled to the launch pad on Monday at the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s South American spaceport. Ariane 5, which for years was the world’s leading commercial satellite launcher, is scheduled to make its final lift off on Tuesday, carrying a French military satellite and a communications technology testbed spacecraft for Germany.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thunders away from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, boosting the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope on a trajectory to deep space where it will probe the nature of dark energy and dark matter. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.
The European Space Agency launched its $1.5 billion Euclid space telescope Saturday, an ambitious, first-of-a-kind attempt to pin down the nature of dark matter, an unknown material pervading the cosmos, and dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is speeding up the expansion of the universe.
An artist’s impression of the Euclid space telescope. Image: ESA.
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope will blast off from Cape Canaveral on 1 July on a mission to shed light on the ‘dark universe’ dominated by dark matter and dark energy.
VSS Unity ignites its engine after being released from its carrier aircraft. Image: Virgin Galactic.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space flight Thursday, sending three Italian researchers, two company pilots and an astronaut trainer on a high-speed thrill ride to the edge of space aboard a winged rocketplane.
Virgin Galactic’s Eve carrier jet carries the VSS Unity on a test flight in April 2023. Image: Virgin Galactic.Four-and-a-half years after an initial sub-orbital test flight, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is finally ready to begin commercial operations with the launch Thursday of a six-man crew, including three Italian researchers, on an up-and-down flight to the edge of space aboard the company’s winged spaceplane.
A prototype of Europe’s reusable Prometheus engine roars to life on the test stand in Vernon, France on June 22, 2023. Image: ArianeGroup.
Europe has successfully completed the first hot-fire test of its reusable Prometheus rocket, a 12-second burn while integrated to the Themis first-stage demonstrator at the ArianeGroup site in Vernon, France.
An overhead drone captures the static test fire of Starship Ship 25 on June 26, 2023. Credit: SpaceX.
SpaceX conducted a six-engine static test fire on Monday of the Starship vehicle that will eventually be paired with a Super Heavy booster for the second test flight of the company’s fully-reusable launch system.
The final Ariane 5 rocket inside the launcher integration building at the Guiana Space Center. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/S. Martin
Europe’s last Ariane 5 rocket is now scheduled to lift off July 4 after being grounded for more than two weeks due to a problem with the pyrotechnic systems required to jettison the launcher’s strap-on solid rocket boosters. Europe’s workhorse rocket is being retired after 27 years of service.
SpaceX’s Starship sits atop its Super Heavy booster prior to the the launcher’s first test flight in April 2023. Image: SpaceX.
SpaceX will need another six weeks or so to finish implementing hundreds of changes to its Super Heavy-Starship rocket and the gargantuan booster’s Texas launch pad before it will be ready for a second attempt to reach orbit, company founder Elon Musk said Saturday.
Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 5-12 mission at 9:56 a.m. EDT (1356 UTC) on June 23 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us on Twitter.
All Rights Reserved. 2024. SpaceZE.com
