Latest Commercial spaceflight Stories
NASA partner Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed an important design review of the crewed version of its Dragon spacecraft. The concept baseline review presented NASA with the primary and secondary design elements of its Dragon capsule designed to carry astronauts into low Earth orbit, including the International Space Station. SpaceX is one of several companies working to develop crew transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2)...
HAWTHORNE, Calif., July 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA partner Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed an important design review of the crewed version of its Dragon spacecraft. The concept baseline review presented NASA with the primary and secondary design elements of its Dragon capsule designed to carry astronauts into low Earth orbit, including the International Space Station. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) SpaceX is one of...
NASA has modified its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., to add the Antares launch vehicle, formerly known as Taurus II, for future missions. The NLS II on-ramp provision provides an opportunity annually for launch service providers not presently under NLS II contract to compete for future missions, and allows launch service providers already under contract to introduce launch vehicles not currently on their NLS II contracts, such as...
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., June 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 here at 8:28 a.m. EDT today. Designated NROL-38, the mission is in support of national defense. "Congratulations to the NRO and to all the mission partners involved in this critical national security launch," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Mission...
The scheduled launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying a top-secret national security-related payload originally scheduled for Monday morning has been delayed, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced on Sunday. According to WFTV.com and Brevard Times reports, the launch was originally scheduled to take place between 8:26am and 9:25am EDT on Monday. However, an environmental control system duct failure discovered Saturday has delayed the launch of the Atlas V 401 rocket and its National...
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden visited SpaceX Headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., Thursday, capping a tour of SpaceX facilities to thank employees for their part in making the first mission by a private company to the International Space Station a success. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Bolden and SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk addressed more than 1,000 employees who helped design, launch...
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden joined SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk at the SpaceX Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, Wednesday to see the first commercial space capsule to complete a mission to the International Space Station. Bolden and Musk also thanked the more than 150 SpaceX employees working at the McGregor facility for their role in the historic mission. SpaceX's Dragon capsule made history May 31 when it returned to Earth after delivering supplies to the...
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden joined SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk at the SpaceX Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, Wednesday to see the first commercial space capsule to complete a mission to the International Space Station. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Bolden and Musk also thanked the more than 150 SpaceX employees working at the McGregor facility for their role in the...
BERN, Switzerland, June 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Sea Launch announced today that it has released preliminary "Quick Look" payload unit (PLU) telemetry information to Intelsat S.A. and Space Systems Loral on June 8, 2012. The data covered the full mission profile from lift off at 22:23 Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on Thursday, May 31st (05:23 UTC/GMT, Friday, June 1) through Spacecraft separation. Sea Launch successfully inserted and separated the spacecraft into its...
[ Watch the Video ] Lee Rannals for RedOrbit.com SpaceX had an ideal ending to its Dragon capsule mission as the spacecraft zipped safely back through Earth's atmosphere and into the Pacific Ocean on Thursday. The Dragon capsule spent over a week in space, becoming the first commercial vehicle to dock with the International Space Station. SpaceX's prized capsule saw numerous launch delays, and one abort, until it finally was able to send Dragon into orbit last Tuesday at 3:44 a.m....
