launch | Common News Update

May22022 by adminNo Comments

Watch live: Rocket Lab plans launch, booster catch with helicopter after days of delays

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ORLANDO, Fla., May 2 (UPI) -- Unfavorable weather conditions pushed Rocket Lab's 26th launch of an Electron booster to the end of last week, and the company decided to wait for Monday to take a shot at catching the rocket with a helicopter for the first time. With final checks on its recovery system under way, the company now plans for liftoff around 6:41 p.m. EDT from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The mission, called "There and back again," will mark the first time Rocket Lab has attempted to recover one of its first stage boosters. If recovery with the helicopter is successful, the company also plans to conduct it's first booster offloading, with the aircraft dropping the rocket on to a waiting ship. "We don't usually give mother nature quite so much power over launch timing, but fo...

Jan72022 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX successfully completes first launch of 2022 from Florida

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ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 6 (UPI) -- SpaceX kicked off a surge in launch activity Thursday with the successful launch of 49 of the company's Starlink communications satellites from Florida, heading south along the state's coastline. Five SpaceX missions may launch in the next month on the southern polar trajectory, flying closer to the Florida coast toward Miami than most launches, according to the U.S. Space Force. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off as planned at 4:49 p.m. EST from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Nine minutes after launch, the first-stage booster landed successfully on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. "Starlink is now live in 25 countries and regions currently servicing over 145,000 users worldwide," SpaceX engineer Jessie Anderson said during a live broadcast of the launch. "...

Dec112021 by adminNo Comments

Blue Origin plans to launch largest crew yet Saturday

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Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket company plans to launch six people, its largest crew yet, including the daughter of late astronaut Alan Shepard and ABC News anchor Michael Strahan, into space Saturday from Texas. Blue Origin plans liftoff of the New Shepard rocket on its NS-19 mission at 8:45 a.m. CST from its Corn Ranch spaceport 160 miles east of El Paso. Launch personnel postponed a launch Wednesday because of high winds in the area. Previous launches in July and October carried Bezos and William Shatner, 90, respectively. Bezos also invited former aviator Wally Funk, 82, to fly with him in July. Those previous crews were composed of four people. Let's light this candle! We put Alan Shepard's famous words on the crew access gantry for the astronauts to see just before ...

Oct312021 by adminNo Comments

NASA, SpaceX reschedule Crew-3 launch for Wednesday

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Oct. 30 (UPI) -- NASA and SpaceX on Saturday scrapped plans to send astronauts to the International Space Station after a large mid-Atlantic storm caused weather issues along the flight path. The Crew-3 launch, which was set to launch Sunday, is now scheduled to take place 1:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday, when weather conditions were expected to be 80% favorable. The NASA astronauts will launch on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew, which includes pilot Tom Marshburn, commander Raja Chari, and mission specialists Kayla Barron and Matthias Maurer, is expected to spend six months carrying out research to help the United States prepare for longer space missions. Dxperiments include multiple studies of astronaut health during long period...

Mar242021 by adminNo Comments

SpaceX launch sends 23rd Starlink communications satellite cluster

Science

ORLANDO, Fla., March 24 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched 60 more Starlink broadband communications satellites before dawn on Wednesday, from Florida. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket carrying the satellites occurred at Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The weather was cooperative for the 23rd Starlink mission. Advertisement "Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed," Space tweeted.[embedded content] "This was the sixth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously supported launch of GPS-III Space Vehicle 03, Turksat 5A, and three Starlink missions," the company added. "One half of Falcon 9's fairing supported the Sentinel-6A mission and the other supported a previous Starlink mission." There was no room for delay on the Starlink launch because the...