Launch Pad 39A

SpaceX clears Falcon Heavy for liftoff after launch pad lightning strike

Lightning strikes Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Thursday night, with a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket awaiting liftoff. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX says engineers completed checks of the Falcon Heavy rocket, its satellite payloads, and ground systems at the Kennedy Space Center after a lightning strike on the launch pad’s tower Thursday night, part …

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Tyvak smallsat launched by SpaceX to validate miniature space debris telescope

File photo of a Tyvak-built 6U CubeSat being placed Ito its launch dispenser. Credit: Tyvak Tyvak, a manufacturer of small satellites, disclosed new details Monday about an experimental spacecraft launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Saturday, revealing plans to validate compact optical telescopes that could offer a new way to monitor space traffic and …

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Starlink launch marks 100 missions since an in-flight Falcon rocket failure

A Falcon 9 rocket takes off Tuesday with 60 Starlink satellites. Credit: SpaceX The oldest Falcon 9 booster in SpaceX’s operational rocket fleet sent 60 more Starlink internet satellites into space Tuesday with a launch from historic pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With the 60 satellites launched Tuesday, SpaceX has sent …

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With SpaceX crew docking, it’s a full house on the International Space Station

NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins, commander of the Crew-1 mission, tweeted this picture of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft approaching the International Space Station on Saturday. Credit: NASA/Mike Hopkins A refurbished SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship linked up with the International Space Station early Saturday more than 260 miles above Earth, delivering four veteran astronauts to the …

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Crew Dragon launch to space station delayed to Friday by offshore weather

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 39A with the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station has been delayed 24 hours to Friday because of bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean …

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NASA, SpaceX watching weather in downrange abort zones for crew launch

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft stand on pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Preparations for the planned liftoff Thursday of a SpaceX Dragon capsule with a four-person crew to the International Space Station cleared another readiness review Tuesday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, …

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Crew Dragon astronauts arrive at Kennedy Space Center for launch preps

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, Crew-2 pilot Megan McArthur, Crew-2 commander Shane Kimbrough, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday for final launch preparations. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani An all-veteran crew of four astronauts jetted into NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Friday for the final few days of rehearsals, briefings, …

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NASA, SpaceX clear crew capsule for launch next week

Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX’s vice president of build and flight reliability, participates in a Flight Readiness Review for the Crew-2 mission Thursday. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA and SpaceX officials are moving forward with preparations to launch the next commercial Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station next week after a Flight Readiness Review Thursday, pending …

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SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour meets Falcon 9 rocket for launch next week

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft arrives at the company’s Falcon 9 hangar April 13 near pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX trucked its Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft — refurbished with a new heat shield and structural enhancements — across the Cape Canaveral spaceport this week for attachment to a …

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Astrobotic selects SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch robotic lunar lander

A Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off in April 2019 with the Arabsat 6A commercial communications satellite. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now A commercial lunar lander built by Astrobotic will launch from the Kennedy Space Center on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket in late 2023 to deliver a water-hunting NASA rover to the moon’s …

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