Italian radar satellite rides SpaceX rocket into polar orbit

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket takes off just after sunset Monday with Italy’s sixth COSMO-SkyMed satellite. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX gave an Italian radar satellite a picture-perfect ride into orbit with a memorable Monday evening launch from Cape Canaveral on top of a Falcon 9 rocket. A clear sunset sky offered spectators dazzling views of the reusable booster’s fiery climb into space and pyrotechnic plunge back to Earth. Variables outside SpaceX’s control...

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Comment on SpaceX Flies IXPE, Third Back-to-Back Night Launch from Space Coast by SpaceX Launches Short-Notice CSG-2, Readies for Starlink, Classified Missions Next – AmericaSpace

[…] next, the six-times-flown B1061 booster, last used to deliver NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) last month, will lift dozens more Starlinks to orbit from Pad 39A at KSC as early as 1:56 p.m. EST Tuesday. […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/WcvC7miI2 via World Space In...

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SpaceX Launches Short-Notice CSG-2, Readies for Starlink, Classified Missions Next

After 4 scrubbed launch tries last week, @SpaceX found success on Monday & for the first time converted a Falcon Heavy side-booster into a "single-stick" Falcon 9. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/xEGj9iZ70 via World Space In...

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SpaceX preps for launch of spy satellite payload from California this week

The official patch for the NROL-87 mission. Credit: NRO The first launch of the year from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, set for Wednesday afternoon, will send a payload into orbit for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission will deploy a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office into orbit after liftoff from Vandenberg at 12:18 p.m. PST (3:18 p.m. EST; 2018 GMT). The Falcon 9’s reusable...

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Cruise ship under rocket’s flight path forces another SpaceX launch scrub

A Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Sunday evening before a launch attempt with an Italian COSMO-SkyMed radar imaging satellite. Credit: Stephen Clark / Spaceflight Now A cruise ship that ventured under the planned flight path of a Falcon 9 rocket near Cape Canaveral Sunday forced SpaceX to delay launch of an Italian Earth-imaging satellite for a fourth time, setting up the mission for another try just after...

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Falcon 9 rocket test fired before COSMO-SkyMed satellite launch

This page is available to Spaceflight Now members only Support Spaceflight Now’s unrivaled coverage of the space program by becoming a member. Your monthly or annual membership will help us continue and expand our coverage. As a supporter of the site you will also gain access to bonus content such as this page. Existing member? Sign in.         We appreciate your support. from Spaceflight Now https://ift.tt/aJ4zM25dQ via World...

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Weather delays set up SpaceX for two weekend launches from Cape Canaveral

A Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Friday evening with Italy’s CSG 2 radar satellite. Credit: SpaceX A blanket of thick clouds over Cape Canaveral Friday forced SpaceX to delay liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket and an Italian radar remote sensing satellite until Saturday, setting up Florida’s Space Coast for launches on back to back days this weekend, with another SpaceX flight already booked on the range for Sunday. SpaceX’s...

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SpaceX cargo ship returns to Earth with spacesuit and science specimens

A SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule undocks from the International Space Station on Jan. 23 with more than 4,900 pounds of hardware and scientific experiments. Credit: NASA A SpaceX cargo ship splashed down under parachutes in the Gulf of Mexico this week, returning from the International Space Station after a 34-day mission with a spacesuit used for spacewalks, and research specimens for distribution to scientists around the world. The splashdown of...

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‘Major Malfunction’: Remembering Challenger, OTD in 1986

OTD in 1986, shortly before noon, Challenger & her crew were lost in a cold blue Florida sky. Today, America remembers their sacrifice. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/3KPAmtw via World Space In...

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Live coverage: SpaceX counting down to launch of Italian radar satellite

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The mission will launch a radar remote sensing satellite for Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation constellation. Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live  SpaceX Webcast SpaceX is set to launch an Italian radar remote sensing satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch at 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT), weather permitting, and the first stage booster will...

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SpaceX gives converted Falcon Heavy side booster new life

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a booster stage converted from two previous Falcon Heavy missions, rolls through NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 8 toward its launch pad. Credit: Michael Cain / Spaceflight Now / Coldlife Photography A converted SpaceX side booster that flew on two Falcon Heavy missions in 2019 will launch again Thursday as the first stage of a single-stick Falcon 9 rocket set to lift off from Cape Canaveral with an Italian radar...

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NASA to name astronauts this year for first Artemis moon mission

Artist’s concept of an Orion spacecraft at the moon. Credit: NASA NASA will announce later this year the four astronauts who will slingshot around the far side of the moon on the Artemis lunar program’s first crew mission, currently scheduled for launch in 2024, the head of the agency’s human space exploration division recently said. The crew is expected to include three U.S. fliers and one Canadian astronaut. The Artemis 2 mission will follow...

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The Slightest Glitch: Remembering Apollo 1, OTD in 1967

OTD in 1967, fire swept through the Command Module of Apollo 1, killing astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Ed White & Roger Chaffee. Today, we remember their ultimate sacrifice. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/3u2OXvw via World Space In...

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SpaceX ready to launch Italian radar remote sensing satellite

Artist’s illustration of a COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation satellite in orbit. Credit: ASI SpaceX plans to launch an Italian Earth observation satellite with radar vision Thursday evening from Cape Canaveral on a twilight flight that could dazzle spectators with the ascent and descent of the reusable Falcon 9 booster over the Florida spaceport. The mission is scheduled to get underway from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:11 p.m....

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Photos: Atlas 5 rocket flies on ULA’s first mission of 2022

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket took off Jan. 21 from Cape Canaveral, climbing off of launch pad 41 with thrust from its Russian-made RD-180 main engine and a single Northrop Grumman solid rocket booster to carry two U.S. military satellites into orbit. These images from Spaceflight Now’s photographers show the Atlas 5 rocket’s 2 p.m. EST (1900 GMT) liftoff from Florida’s Space Coast with two satellites for the Space Force’s Geosynchronous...

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Comment on EVA Youth & Experience Tackle Tricky S-Band Antenna Replacement by CRS-24 Returns to Earth, Wraps Up Month-Long ISS Stay – AmericaSpace

[…] back to Earth, there are currently four EMU serial numbers aboard the station: No. 3015 and 3004—most recently worn by Marshburn and Barron for a spacewalk last month—together with 3009 and the HUT-less […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/3IA33sA via World Space In...

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CRS-24 Returns to Earth, Wraps Up Month-Long ISS Stay

After a month spent docked @Space_Station, the CRS-24 Cargo Dragon has returned to Earth with science, cargo & a long-serving microscope. from AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/346QK88 via World Space In...

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Webb reaches orbital destination a million miles from Earth

Artist’s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: NASA The James Webb Space Telescope slipped into orbit around a point in space nearly a million miles from Earth Monday where it can capture light from the first stars and galaxies to form in the aftermath of the Big Bang. As planned, the European Ariane 5 rocket that launched Webb on Christmas Day put the telescope on a trajectory that required only a slight push to reach the intended...

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Comment on CRS-24 Dragon Launches, Heads to Space Station by CRS-24 Returns to Earth, Wraps Up Month-Long ISS Stay – AmericaSpace

[…] Cargo Dragon duly rose to orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster in the pre-dawn darkness at 5:07 a.m. EST on 21 December and autonomously docked at Harmony’s zenith port at 3:41 a.m. EST the next day. Overseeing the […] from Comments for AmericaSpace https://ift.tt/3rJUuVb via World Space In...

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Astra fires up rocket for first time at Cape Canaveral

Astra’s small satellite launcher was test-fired at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 46 launch pad Saturday. Credit: Astra / John Kraus Astra, a company seeking to carve out a segment of the growing small satellite launch market, test-fired its two-stage rocket at Cape Canaveral on Saturday in preparation for an upcoming demonstration flight for NASA. The engine test-firing, called a static fire test, occurred on launch pad 46 at Cape Canaveral Space Force...

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Watch live: Cargo Dragon capsule ready to depart space station

 SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft, closing out a month-long mission, is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station Sunday after a two-delay in its departure to wait for better weather in the capsule’s recovery zone off the coast of Florida. The gumdrop-shaped cargo freighter will undock from the station’s Harmony module at 10:40 a.m. EDT (1540 GMT) Sunday. A series of departure maneuvers using the ship’s Draco thrusters will guide Dragon away from the complex, setting up for a deorbit burn at 3:18 p.m. EDT (2018 GMT) Monday...

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