CAPE CANAVERAL, AFS – After overcoming a nerve-wracking crisis after successfully launching their fifth Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX appears to have salvaged the latest commercial International Space Station resupply mission. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 occurred on time at 10:10 a.m. EST, during an instantaneous launch window, under cloudy skies but otherwise perfect weather. […]
Blue Origin recently completed acceptance testing of its BE‑3 rocket engine, the first new hydrogen engine to be developed in the United States in more than a decade. The 110,000-lbf BE‑3 will power Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital system, and later, will be modified for upper stage applications. “The BE‑3 has now been fired for […]
A Long March 3B rocket blasted off from the mountains of southern China today, carrying with it the first spacecraft intended to land on the Moon since 1976 (the Soviet Union’s Luna 24). Nestled inside the Chang’e 3 spacecraft is a 260 pound rover named Yutu, China’s first land-mobile explorer. Chang’e 3 follows the country’s […]
