Exploring The Frontier Of Space
(Source: SpaceX) During our next flight, SpaceX will attempt the precision landing of a Falcon 9 first stage for the first time, on a custom-built ocean platform known as the autonomous spaceport drone ship. While SpaceX has already demonstrated two successful soft water landings, executing a precision landing on an unanchored ocean platform is significantly […]
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 […]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered into orbit during the overnight hours on September 7 on a successful mission to deliver the commercial AsiaSat 6 communication satellite to orbit for Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Ltd. Launch occurred right on time at 1 a.m. EDT Sunday morning from SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral […]
SpaceX experienced a rare but disappointing failure today when one of the company’s Falcon 9R (reusable) rockets exploded during a test flight at the SpaceX facility near McGregor, TX. It is unknown if the problem today will affect the scheduled August 27 launch from Cape Canaveral of a Falcon 9 carrying the commercial Asiasat 6 […]
When SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from Cape Canaveral carrying the first OG-2 mission for Orbcomm, a P3 Orion aircraft was waiting downrange over the Atlantic Ocean to capture the powered descent and attempted soft-landing of the rocket’s first stage in the water. After the booster separated from the second stage, it re-lit […]
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 […]
With just a bit of Hollywood-esque flash, SpaceX unveiled the long-awaited passenger-carrying version of their Dragon spacecraft Thursday during a ceremony at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, CA. In front of a gathering of media, employees and invited guests, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk lifted the curtain on the upgraded capsule known as Dragon Version 2, […]
A GoPro Captures Launch Of A SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket Carrying Dragon CRS-3 Dodging a gloomy weather forecast, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared into space this afternoon to begin a critical resupply mission to the International Space Station and test a revolutionary booster stage recovery system that could change the economics of the […]
In the wake of serious outage on the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral, officials this morning released a few new details into the nature of the problem that took a tracking station out of commission. The loss of the station, due to a short circuit in a critical radar system, consequently forced […]