Firefly’s launch pad crew works on the Alpha rocket Monday, Sept. 12, at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now
Firefly Aerospace said Monday it will try again Sept. 19 to launch its second Alpha rocket from California after scrubbing back-to-back launch attempts due to a helium pressure issue and unfavorable wind conditions.
Artist’s concept of the CAPSTONE spacecraft near the moon. Credit: llustration by NASA/Daniel Rutter
Ground teams will try to stabilize the motion of NASA’s small CAPSTONE scouting satellite and rescue the $30 million mission on the way to the moon, following a problem Sept. 8 that sent the spacecraft into a tumble and caused controllers to temporarily lose contact with the probe, officials said Monday.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of Firefly’s Alpha rocket on the “To the Black” test flight with seven small nanosatellites and picosatellites. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
These photos show Firefly Aerospace’s second Alpha rocket as it was raised on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 10. Photographers captured these views on the eve of the rocket’s planned test flight carrying seven small satellites into orbit.
Firefly’s Alpha launch vehicle stands on its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sept. 10. Credit: Brian Sandoval / Spaceflight Now
A year after an early engine shutdown cut short an inaugural test flight, Firefly Aerospace’s second Alpha launcher is scheduled to take off Sunday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a demonstration mission to place seven small satellites into orbit.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Starlink 4-2 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 34 Starlink internet satellites and a rideshare payload for AST SpaceMobile’s space-based cellular broadband network. Follow us on Twitter.
SpaceX is counting down to a static fire test of a Falcon 9 rocket on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The test-firing of the booster’s nine engines is in preparation for a launch with 54 more Starlink internet satellites as soon as Sunday night at 10:53 p.m. EDT (0253 GMT Monday).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 39A Saturday morning. Credit: Spaceflight Now
The 39th and 40th launches of the year from Florida’s Space Coast are set to blast off Saturday night and Sunday night, back-to-back missions to deploy more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink internet network, plus a rideshare payload for AST Space Mobile’s planned space-based cellular broadband network.
NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket on pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on Aug. 30. Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon
NASA officials said Thursday they hope to try again to launch the Artemis 1 moon rocket from the Kennedy Space Center as soon as Sept. 23 or 27, but that schedule comes with two big caveats: A repair to a leaky liquid hydrogen fueling line must hold tight during a tanking test next weekend, and the Space Force’s Eastern Range has to extend the certification of batteries on the moon rocket’s flight safety system.
A European Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from Kourou, French Guiana, with the Eutelsat Konnect VHTS broadband satellite. Credit: Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace/P. Piron
A powerful Eutelsat commercial communications satellite launched Wednesday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, heading into orbit on a mission expected to last more than 15 years to provide broadband connectivity to rural households, ships, and airplane passengers across Europe.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the Eutelsat Konnect VHTS communications satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
The Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite during testing at a Thales Alenia Space facility in Cannes, France. Credit: Thales Alenia Space
An Ariane 5 rocket is set to blast off Wednesday from French Guiana — a day later than planned due to a poor weather forecast Tuesday — with a Eutelsat-owned satellite designed to beam broadband internet signals across Europe from a position in geostationary orbit.
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Starlink 4-20 mission will launch SpaceX’s next batch of 51 Starlink broadband satellites and a rideshare payload for Boeing to demonstrate broadband communications technology. Follow us on Twitter.
Live coverage of the countdown and maiden flight of the Space Launch System on NASA’s Artemis 1 mission. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Artist’s concept of the NEA Scout mission, powered by aa solar sail, approaching an asteroid. Credit: NASA
Catching a ride on Artemis 1 is a miniaturized CubeSat called NEA Scout that will use a thin, aluminum-coated solar sail about the size of a tennis court to propel it towards the smallest asteroid ever to be studied by a spacecraft.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, with its European service module, on top of the Space Launch System moon rocket. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now
The first unpiloted mission for NASA’s Artemis moon program aims to prove out the most powerful rocket to ever launch from U.S. soil, and test the function of a human-rated spacecraft traveling more than 40,000 miles beyond the far side of the moon before blazing back through Earth’s atmosphere at nearly 25,000 mph.
Artist’s illustration of the ArgoMoon spacecraft with the SLS moon rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage. Credit: ASI
Italian engineers are expecting a series of spectacular photos from a tiny satellite that will be released to fly in sync with the interim cryogenic propulsion stage that propels the Orion capsule and European service module to the moon from Earth orbit.
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