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Watch live: Astronauts on spacewalk to prep for new ISS solar arrays

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Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata and NASA astronaut Nicole Mann suited up and floated outside the International Space Station Friday for a planned six-and-a-half hour spacewalk to prepare the lab for arrival of another pair of new solar arrays later this year. The astronauts switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 8:14 a.m. EST (1314 …

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SpaceX orbits 51 more Starlink satellites in year’s first launch from Vandenberg

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SpaceX launched 51 more Starlink satellites Jan. 19 on the first launch of the year from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s first launch of the year from California, and fourth mission overall in 2023, added 51 more satellites to the Starlink internet constellation Thursday, keeping pace with the company’s goal of 100 …

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SpaceX delivers GPS satellite to 12,000-mile-high orbit

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Watch a replay of our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 7:24 a.m. EST (1224 GMT) on Jan. 18 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, with the GPS 3 SV06 navigation satellite for the U.S. Space Force. Follow us on Twitter. SFN …

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GPS navigation satellite set for launch on SpaceX rocket

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida before liftoff with the GPS 3 SV06 spacecraft. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s second launch for the U.S. military in three days is set to blast off from Florida and deliver a GPS navigation satellite into orbit Wednesday, reinforcing the …

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Falcon Heavy hauls military satellites to high orbit after spectacular sunset launch

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SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket fires away from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida with two U.S. Space Force satellites. Credit: SpaceX A U.S. military data relay satellite and a rideshare platform with its own suite of payloads rocketed into a sunset sky over Florida’s Space Coast Sunday on a Falcon Heavy launcher, putting …

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U.S. military payloads mated to SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for weekend launch

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Falcon Heavy’s 27 Merlin engines. Credit: SpaceX Two U.S. military satellites set to ride SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket into geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above Earth were mated with their launch vehicle Friday at Kennedy Space Center ahead of a scheduled liftoff Saturday just after sunset. Launch spectators on Florida’s Space Coast will be …

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Northrop Grumman heralds converted adapter rings as rideshare solution for military payloads

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Artist’s concept of a Long Duration Propulsive ESPA spacecraft, based on Northrop Grumman’s ESPAStar satellite bus. Credit: Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Space Force say converted launch vehicle payload adapter rings, upgraded with power and propulsion to create full-fledged satellites, are proving effective in more rapidly delivering military instruments and sensors to orbit. …

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First launch by ABL Space Systems fails shortly after liftoff

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ABL’s RS1 rocket lifts off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on Wednesday. Credit: ABL Space Systems ABL Space Systems’ first RS1 rocket fell back on its launch pad at Kodiak Island, Alaska, shortly after liftoff Tuesday on the company’s first orbital launch attempt, destroying the rocket and damaging the ground facility, officials said. “After liftoff, RS1 …

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Russia to launch replacement for damaged Soyuz crew ship at space station

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Russia’s Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft undergoing launch preparations last year at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Credit: Energia Russian space agency and NASA officials said Wednesday they will accelerate the launch of the next Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, and fly it to the complex next month without anyone on-board to replace a Soyuz …

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