Secretive space startup Blue Origin achieved a significant milestone on April 29 with the first development flight of the company’s New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle and spacecraft from its west Texas test site. The first all-up flight test was mostly successful and the rocket carried the uncrewed capsule to an altitude of over 58 miles. […]
For the first time, Virgin Galactic’s commercial spaceplane, SpaceShipTwo, fired up its rocket engine in free-flight for 16 seconds during its latest successful drop test which also saw the craft break the sound barrier for the first time. Managed by teams from Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, the test begins the final phase of vehicle […]
Introduction: This concept explores the Eastern Range (ER) and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) being managed as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-licensed commercial launch site (i.e., a spaceport). The concept to be discussed is that launch programs (U.S., commercial, civil, and national security space sector launch and test and evaluation (T&E) programs) would contract […]
