NASA Space Flight

Most rocket launches culminate with liquid-fueled upper stage engines turning off at exactly the precise millisecond a host of parameters — such as flight path angle, orbital inclination, apogee, and perigee — are all met simultaneously. So then how do solid propellant upper stages like those used on the Antares, Pegasus, and Minotaur fleets from Northrop Grumman perform those same types of mission-precise orbital insertions when […]

The Russian Aerospace Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation launched a mission to deliver three Gonets-M communications satellites into a 1,400 km near-polar orbit. The flight, launched on a Soyuz 2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage, lifted off at 01:14:36 UTC on Thursday, 3 December (20:14:36 EST on Wednesday, 2 December) from Site No. 43/3 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northeastern Russia. […]

The Russian Aerospace Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are in final launch preparations for a mission to deliver three Gonets-M communications satellites into a 1,400 km near-polar orbit. The flight, launching on a Soyuz 2.1b rocket with a Fregat upper stage, is set to liftoff at 01:14:36 UTC on Thursday, 3 December (20:14:36 EST on Wednesday, 2 December) from Site No. 43/3 […]

Arianespace will use — with Russia’s support — a Soyuz ST-A rocket to launch a joint military and civilian Earth imaging satellite for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces from the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou, French Guiana. Liftoff of the Falcon Eye 2 satellite is set to occur at 20:33:28 EST on Tuesday, 1 December (01:33:28 UTC on Wednesday, 2 December) to ensure the satellite […]

Eight days after launching from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in southern China, the nation’s Chang’e 5 mission has landed at Mons Rümker on the Moon to collect approximately 2 kg of material for near-immediate return to Earth. The Chang’e 5 lander began final descent at 09:58 EST (14:58 UTC) with an expected touchdown 15 minutes later at 10:13 EST (15:13 UTC). All broadcasts of the […]

It’s a constant of the universe.  Dark matter – a key ingredient for the formation and evolution of galaxies is present in whatever galaxy is observed. That is until NGC 1052-DF2 was discovered – a galaxy missing most of its dark matter.  A year later, galaxy NGC 1052-DF4 was discovered 45 million light years from Earth… and it too was missing most of its dark matter. […]

Arianespace is preparing to use — with Russia’s support — a Soyuz ST-A rocket to launch a joint military and civilian Earth imaging satellite for the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces from the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou, French Guiana. The Falcon Eye 2 satellite for the United Arab Emirates has a single-second launch window at 20:33:28 EST on Sunday, 29 November (01:33:28 UTC on Monday, […]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan plans to launch an H-IIA rocket on Sunday, 29 November to deploy a top secret communications satellite to support the country’s reconnaissance and scientific programs. Liftoff is scheduled for a two-hour window opening at 16:25 local time (07:25 UTC or 02:25 EST) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The payload The Optical Data Relay Satellite payload aboard this mission will be used […]

NASA Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) and prime test and operations contractor (TOSC) Jacobs started assembling the Artemis 1 vehicle on its Mobile Launcher this week in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Placement of the two aft assemblies of the Space Launch System (SLS) solid rocket boosters (SRB) on Mobile Launcher-1 (ML-1) in VAB High Bay 3 begins the […]

The Liquid Engines Office for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Program is planning a busy schedule of test campaigns next year in parallel with efforts to complete preparations for the vehicle’s first launch. Existing Aerojet Rocketdyne hydrogen-oxygen engine designs and hardware will be used for the SLS core and upper stages, but both the space agency and the prime contractor for the RS-25 and RL10 engines […]

Following a slightly convoluted engine testing campaign, Starship SN8 is set to finalize its pre-flight requirements with a triple Raptor Static Fire test on Tuesday. Should this test go to plan, the path will be cleared for SN8 to conduct a test flight to 15 km (50,000 ft) as soon as November 30. This three-engine firing is expected to be the final major test ahead of […]

The Chang’e 5 lunar orbiter, lander, and sample collection return vehicle is on its sea-side launch pad at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan province, People’s Republic of China. The mission will launch on a Chang Zheng 5 heavy lift rocket, with liftoff expected within a 50 minute launch window that extends from 20:25 to 21:15 UTC (16:25 to 17:15 EST) on 23 November.  […]

Just over a day after a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the American-European Sentinel-6A oceanography satellite into orbit from the U.S. West Coast, SpaceX has returned its focus to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, ahead of the Falcon 9 rocket’s 100th launch. With the Starlink V1.0 L15 mission (or the 16th flight of Starlink), SpaceX’s latest batch of 60 satellites are scheduled to […]

Fresh off their second crewed launch for NASA, SpaceX has temporarily shifted focus on launches to the U.S. West Coast, where a Falcon 9 rocket is waiting to launch the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich oceanography satellite in cooperation with NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European Space Agency, and various other partners. Launch is scheduled from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air […]

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Program rescheduled the final two tests that will culminate the Core Stage Green Run campaign for December after successfully repairing one of the liquid hydrogen (LH2) prevalves inside the engine section of the stage. The Wet Dress Rehearsal is now targeted for the week of December 7, and if that goes well the Hot-Fire test of the stage could occur two […]

Rocket Lab is preparing to launch its sixth mission of 2020 — a launch which the company calls its “most diverse mission yet,” with 30 satellites onboard and a launch broadcast that will raise money for the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Starship children’s hospital. Electron will blast off from LC-1A on New Zealand’s Māhia Peninsula.  The launch is targeted for the opening of the window […]

Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov are performing a spacewalk on the Russian side of the International Space Station to prepare for the arrival of a new Russian research module named Nauka, a long-awaited science laboratory for the outpost. The spacewalk began at 15:12 UTC (10:12 EST) on Wednesday, 18 November when the cosmonauts left the ISS via the Poisk module.  This is the first […]

In a virtual update, NASA and Northrop Grumman confirmed the James Webb Space Telescope remains on track for launch on 31 October 2021 atop an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Final pre-launch processing milestones with the telescope, meanwhile, continue at Northrop Grumman’s Redondo Beach, California, facility, with teams currently working toward shipment of the observatory to its South American launch site in August 2021. […]

After a 27.5 hour commute, Resilience and its crew are planned to dock to the International Space Station at approximately 23:00 EST Monday (04:00 UTC on Tuesday), increasing the Station’s crew from three to seven. The expanded crew on the orbiting laboratory will mean more time for Station maintenance and scientific research. After a picture perfect ride uphill, Crew Dragon Resilience separated from the upper stage […]

Arianespace will use their Vega rocket to launch two Earth observation satellites named SEOSAT-Ingenio and TARANIS for Spain and France, respectively. Liftoff from the Guiana Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana, is targeted for a single-second window at 01:52:20 UTC on Tuesday, 17 November — which is 20:52:20 EST on Monday, 16 November) to allow Vega to place the two satellites into sun-synchronous orbits at slightly […]

Weather and technology permitting, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 19:27 EST on 15 November (00:27 UTC on 16 November) lofting four space travelers into orbit ahead of a planned six month stay aboard the International Space Station. The launch of SpaceX’s Crew-1 mission marks the first operational Commercial Crew Program mission to the ISS, […]

Following Starship SN8’s eventful Static Fire test, it was feared the test flight would likely suffer from a lengthy delay. However, thanks in part to a burst disk that avoided a damaging “pop” scenario, SN8 may yet still fly to 50,000 feet this month, albeit with a realigned trio of Raptor engines. While repair work on SN8 is conducted at the Launch Site, there’s been no […]

With each new crew launch from the U.S. comes the inevitable questions: Why all the weather rules?  What are the vehicle’s abort modes and how will it perform a launch abort and aim itself to a predetermined location in the Atlantic Ocean stretching from the Kennedy Space Center across to the western Irish coast? The Crew-1 mission of SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule is contending with these […]

China launched the second Tiantong-1 mobile communications satellite on Thursday. The launch took place at 15:59 UTC Long March-3B/G2 (Chang Zheng-3B/G2) from the LC2 Launch Complex at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Tiantong-1 is an S-band mobile communication satellite developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology and operated by China SatCom. See Also Chinese Forum Section 65 Launch Vehicle Manuals (L2) Click here to Join […]

SpaceX is preparing their Falcon 9 rocket for its static fire test ahead of their first operational Crew Dragon mission, Crew-1.  The flight will be SpaceX’s second crewed flight and their first rotation mission with four astronauts onboard. The test firing is currently scheduled to occur later this afternoon or evening local time in Florida. The static fire is one of the last critical tests ahead […]

For the first time since 1982, NASA has certified a spaceship to operationally carry humans into low Earth orbit. At the Kennedy Space Center today, NASA and SpaceX — with JAXA’s participation — formally certified the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to transport people to and from the Space Station and cleared the Crew-1 mission for launch on Saturday, 14 November at 19:49:50 EST […]

Across the world, several startup launch providers such as Relativity Space, Astra, Virgin Orbit, and others are currently in fierce competition with one another to bring their in-development rockets into operation and obtain a share of the ever-growing small satellite launch market. One of those companies – Texas-based Firefly Aerospace – has taken a substantial step in these efforts with the shipment of their first flight-ready […]

China’s latest commercial rocket, the Ceres-1 (Gushenxing-1) launch vehicle, has conducted its maiden launch this weekend, orbiting the Tianqi-11 satellite. Chinese company Galactic Energy conducted the launch on Saturday morning at 07:12 UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Galactic Energy, also designated Beijing Xinghe Dongli Space Technology Co. Ltd., is one of several private Chinese companies that is developing orbital launch vehicles – of […]

Astronauts Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi have arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for their upcoming launch to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX’s Crew-1 will be the first operational, long-duration mission to the ISS onboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.  Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A is currently scheduled for Saturday, 14 November 2020 at 19:49 […]

NASA and Boeing continued troubleshooting issues with the Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage found during summer Green Run testing while cleanup from the mess created by Hurricane Zeta continued in the greater New Orleans area. The hurricane plowed through NASA facilities in the area on the evening of October 28, causing roof and siding damage at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans East […]

The Indian Space Research Organization, ISRO, is preparing for the 51st launch of their Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, otherwise known as the PSLV, carrying the EOS-1 Earth observation satellite and nine small satellite rideshare payloads into orbit. Liftoff is scheduled to occur at 09:32 UTC (04:32 EST) — which is 15:02 local — on 7 November.  The mission will use the PSLV-DL variant of the rocket […]

In an interview with NASASpaceflight, Northrop Grumman’s Sally Richardson, Program Director, Human Landing System, provided key updates on the progress the company is making on its Transfer Element, part of a three-piece Human Landing System (HLS) lunar lander. Northrop Grumman is part of the National Team, also consisting of Blue Origin (project lead), Lockheed Martin, and Draper. Together, the National Team is proposing an integrated lunar […]

China has launched the first dedicated mission to orbit ten satellites for the Aleph-1 Argentinian Earth observation satellites. Launch took place at 03:19 UTC on Friday, 6 November 2020. The satellites were orbited by the Long March-6 (Y3) – Chang Zheng-6 – rocket from the LC-16 launch complex of the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Originally scheduled for 20 October, the launch was delayed due to rescheduling […]