Launch

Test-firing of ULA’s first Vulcan rocket on tap today

Watch our live coverage of the Flight Readiness Firing for United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan Centaur rocket is back on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral for a critical test-firing of its Blue Origin-built BE-4 main engines …

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SpaceX delivers 52 more Starlink satellites into orbit

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:02 p.m. PDT Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Credit: SpaceX Another batch of 52 Starlink satellites launched late Tuesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, on the way to join SpaceX’s fleet of more than 4,000 spacecraft beaming broadband signals around the world. Stacked one …

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Swiss company selects Arianespace to launch first space debris removal mission

Artist’s concept of ClearSpace’s spacecraft approaching a piece of space debris from a previous Vega rocket launch in 2013. Credit: ClearSpace Swiss-based in-orbit servicing startup ClearSpace has contracted Arianespace to launch its first debris removal mission to capture and deorbit a 100-kilogram (220-pound) piece of space debris. Europe’s Vega C will launch the ClearSpace-1 servicer …

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Live coverage: SpaceX rocket ready for late-night launch for Arabsat

Watch our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with Arabsat’s Badr 8 communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The launch window opens at 11:25 p.m. EDT Friday, May 26 (0325 UTC Saturday, May 27). Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live SpaceX …

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NASA’s final two TROPICS CubeSats launched by Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher lifts off from Launch Complex 1B in New Zealand with NASA’s fifth and sixth TROPICS hurricane research satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab The last two spacecraft in a four-satellite constellation of tropical cyclone research platforms took off late Thursday from New Zealand on a Rocket Lab Electron launcher, helping ensure NASA’s TROPICS …

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First Vulcan rocket rolls back to hangar for ‘adjustments’ prior to test-firing

United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket rolls out to Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral on May 11. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket was filled with methane and liquid oxygen propellants at Cape Canaveral last week for a tanking test, but managers decided to move the rocket back inside a …

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Electron rocket launches pair of cyclone-tracking CubeSats for NASA

Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher lifts off with two of NASA’s TROPICS hurricane research satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab The first pair of four NASA CubeSats designed to provide frequent updates of typhoon and hurricane development for new insights into how tropical storms evolve and intensify were launched by Rocket Lab from its New Zealand spaceport on …

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Twin TROPICS satellites set to be lofted into orbit

Artist’s illustration of two TROPICS satellites collecting data on hurricanes. Credit: NASA Rocket Lab’s launch of NASA’s second pair of TROPICS hurricane research satellites, reassigned from Astra following a launch failure last year, has been rescheduled for Sunday (U.S. time) after a delay due to unfavorable weather at the the company’s New Zealand spaceport. Originally …

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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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India’s PSLV launches with two Singaporean satellites

India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifts off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Saturday. Credit: ISRO An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off Saturday and flew to an altitude of more than 360 miles (580 kilometers) to deploy two Singaporean satellites, one for all-weather radar imaging surveillance and another for technology demonstrations. The …

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