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Northrop Grumman launches commercial resupply mission to space station

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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

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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

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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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Antares rocket ready for launch on space station resupply mission

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A mobile clean room, seen here Monday, attached to the nose cone of Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket allowed ground teams to load time-sensitive cargo into a Cygnus supply ship before its launch to the International Space Station. Credit: Alex Polimeni / Spaceflight Now Northrop Grumman packed last-minute cargo into a commercial Cygnus supply ship Monday …

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Fully stacked Starship caps busy week at SpaceX’s Texas rocket yard

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Crews at SpaceX’s Starbase test site in South Texas stack the company’s first full-scale Starship launch vehicle Friday. Credit: SpaceX Last week’s progress at SpaceX’s Starship development site culminated with the spectacular, but brief, sight of a fully-stacked launcher towering nearly 400 feet above the tidal flats of South Texas. The first full stacking of …

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Virgin Galactic re-opens ticket sales, first commercial flight slips to late ’22

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STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The rocket motor on Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity rocket plane fires during a July 11 climb to space with Richard Branson and other company employees. Credit: Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic, buoyed by a successful July 11 suborbital test flight with founder Richard Branson on the company’s winged rocket …

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Keeping up busy launch schedule, China launches military telecom satellite

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A Long March 3B rocket lifts off with the Chinasat 2E satellite Thursday. Credit: CASC China launched a communications satellite likely designed for use by the Chinese military Thursday, keeping up a busy schedule of space missions with the country’s fourth orbital launch attempt in barely a week. The launch Thursday occurred at 12:30 p.m. …

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Boeing’s Starliner capsule returns to hanger for valve troubleshooting

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United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket and Boeing’s Starliner capsule depart pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday morning. Credit: Boeing Ground teams at Cape Canaveral wheeled Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket back inside their assembly hangar Thursday for further troubleshooting of misbehaving valves inside …

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Chinese rocket launches two small satellites to test communications tech

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A Long March 6 rocket lifts off Wednesday with two small satellites. Credit: Institute of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences A Chinese rocket successfully launched Wednesday with a pair of small communications satellites reportedly linked to a secretive German company. The Chinese institute that built the satellites said they will test laser …

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Chinese commercial launcher fails during climb to orbit

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File photo of a Hyperbola 1 rocket undergoing launch preparations. Credit: i-Space The launch of a solid-fueled rocket developed by the Chinese commercial space firm iSpace failed Tuesday, the second launch failure in three orbital attempts by the startup company, Chinese state media said. A Hyperbola 1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan launch base …

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