Exploring The Frontier Of Space
Orbital ATK is on track to launch its next CRS mission late this year and is moving forward with integration of a new first stage propulsion system into the Antares launch vehicle in preparation for multiple CRS missions in 2016. “We committed to NASA that we would resume CRS cargo delivery missions as soon as […]
We should learn today whether or not SpaceX will be able to attempt a launch this week of its Falcon 9 rocket on a mission to the space station. However, a slip of a day or two, possibly longer, is expected after difficulties were encountered during Tuesday’s static test fire of the rocket’s nine Merlin […]
Launch of the Cygnus spacecraft was supposed to be the start of the third of Orbital Science Corporation’s eight NASA-contracted resupply missions to the International Space Station. Instead, Orbital and NASA are left picking up this pieces today after the company’s Antares rocket erupted into a roiling ball of fire after liftoff that consumed the […]
Dodging persistent thunderstorms that have beseiged Florida most of the summer, a Falcon 9 rocket soared into space overnight and sucessfully delivered a cargo-laden Dragon spacecraft in low Earth orbit to begin SpaceX’s fourth resupply mission to the International Space Station. Delayed a day by bad weather, the 208 foot tall pencil-like rocket blasted off […]
On the heels of awarding groundbreaking contracts to U.S. commercial space companies to ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA has released a request for proposals (RFP) for the next round of contracts for private-sector companies to deliver experiments and supplies to the orbiting laboratory. Under the Commercial Resupply Services 2 RFP, NASA […]
With two companies now providing commercial cargo launch services for the International Space Station, NASA is issuing its final report on the now-complete Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program that laid the groundwork for those flights. The report, titled “Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, A New Era in Spaceflight” (NASA/SP-2014-617), documents the work of NASA’s Commercial […]
Marking a giant stride forward in NASA’s plans to rely on the private sector for cargo, and eventually human, deliveries to ISS, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket blasted into space today carrying the company’s Cygnus cargo logistics spacecraft. The successful launch marked the beginning of a four-day in-orbit capabilities demonstration mission that will culminate in […]
Rising up from a blast of fire and steam, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket roared off its Virignia launch pad this evening to begin successful inaugural mission. Liftoff occurred on Sunday, April 21 at 5:00 p.m. EDT from the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at the NASA’s’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It marked the […]
SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft successfully completed the second contracted resupply flight to the International Space Station on Tuesday, March 26, with a 12:36 p.m. EDT splashdown in the Pacific Ocean a few hundred miles west of Baja California, Mexico. “The scientific research delivered and being returned by Dragon enables advances in every aspect of NASA’s diverse […]
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. […]