Mission Reports

Soyuz rocket rolls out to launch pad with next batch of OneWeb satellites

A Soyuz-2.1b rocket emerges from a hangar at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early Monday for rollout to Site 31. Credit: Roscosmos A Russian Soyuz rocket rolled out to a launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Monday, moving into position for liftoff Thursday with 34 more satellites for OneWeb’s broadband internet network. Ground teams transferred …

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Vega rocket set to launch next Airbus Pléiades Neo remote sensing satellite

The payload compartment containing the Pléiades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite is lifted into the Vega rocket’s launch pad gantry in preparation for Monday night’s mission. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace An Airbus-owned commercial optical Earth-imaging satellite and four small CubeSat rideshare payloads are set for launch Monday night from French Guiana aboard a European Vega rocket. The …

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Rocket Lab announces three back-to-back launches for BlackSky

File photo of Rocket Lab’s privately-owned spaceport on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is gearing up for three back-to-back missions beginning later this month from its New Zealand launch base, each carrying two commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites. The small satellite launch company said Aug. 10 it is planning a series …

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Boeing opts to haul Starliner back to hangar, delays flight indefinitely

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen perched atop ULA’s Atlas 5 rocket during rollout to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Aug. 2 for a launch attempt the next day. Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Around-the-clock work to fix valve problems that derailed an Aug. 3 attempt to launch Boeing’s …

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Cygnus supply ship arrives at space station with four tons of cargo

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus supply ship arrives at the International Space Station on Thursday. Credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA Closing out a 36-hour flight from a launch pad in Virginia, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station Thursday with a host of biomedical experiments, supplies for a 3D printing tech demo, fresh food, …

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Indian rocket failure blamed on upper stage malfunction

India’s GSLV Mk.2 rocket lifts off with the EOS-03 satellite. Credit: ISRO An Indian Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle tumbled out of control five minutes after liftoff Wednesday when the rocket’s cryogenic upper stage failed to ignite, destroying a long-delayed Earth observation spacecraft and ending a streak of 16 straight successful Indian space launches. The GSLV …

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India set to launch Earth-viewing telescope into geostationary orbit

India’s EOS 3 satellite, formerly known as GISAT 1, features a large telescope designed to peer down at the Indian subcontinent from geostationary orbit. Credit: ISRO India is set to launch the first in a new line of high-altitude Earth observation satellites Wednesday aboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle debuting a slightly wider payload shroud …

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Northrop Grumman launches commercial resupply mission to space station

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket lifts off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia at 6:01 p.m. EDT (2201 GMT) Tuesday. Credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now A successful launch from Virginia aboard an Antares rocket Tuesday kicked off Northrop Grumman’s 16th commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station, setting the stage for arrival of …

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Antares launch timeline on the NG-16 mission

This graphic illustrates the major events during the Antares rocket’s climb into orbit with the Cygnus supply ship on the NG-16 mission. Credit: Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket will deliver a Cygnus supply ship into orbit Tuesday to begin a pursuit of the International Space Station. The rocket’s two RD-181 engines will ignite around …

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Boeing continues Starliner valve troubleshooting

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft inside the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Credit: Boeing Boeing engineers at Cape Canaveral continue troubleshooting stuck valves in the propulsion system of the company’s Starliner crew capsule in hopes of resolving the problem — and understanding what caused it — in time to take off on an …

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