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23/10/2017
- SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” is undergoing
repairs at Port Canaveral following the return of Falcon 9 booster
B1031.2 after launching the SES-11 satellite. While the touchdown was
nominal, a post-landing incident resulted in a short fire at the aft of
the ship, which also damaged the robot that was to be used to secure the
booster. The fire was quickly extinguished. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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20/10/2017
- Two spacewalkers completed the third in a trio of spacewalks on the
International Space Station (ISS) to complete vital maintenance on the
Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), specifically its new
Latching End Effectors (LEE). After EVA-44 replaced the LEE, EVA-45 and
-46 helped to lube the new hardware. Numerous other tasks were completed
in tandem. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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19/10/2017
- Iridium Communications – in the midst of launching their next
generation communications constellation – has formally signed an
agreement with SpaceX to utilize flight-proven Falcon 9 boosters on
their upcoming Iridium NEXT-4 and -5 missions. Iridium NEXT-4,
scheduled to launch NET 22 December 2017 from SLC-4E, will be the first
flight-proven Falcon 9 mission from Vandenberg. The change in boosters
now negates the possibility of a Return To Launch Site landing of the
Falcon 9 for the mission. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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18/10/2017
- The RS-25 test team at Stennis Space Center hot-fired an untested
flight engine on the A-1 Test Stand Thursday to help complete
certification of design changes to fly on the Space Launch System (SLS).
The test is another step towards the flagship test firing of all four
engines on the B-2 Test Stand. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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17/10/2017
- United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Bigelow Aerospace have updated their
future plans via an agreement to launch a B330 module on a Vulcan
rocket to an eventual home in Low Lunar Orbit. Set with a target date of
2022, the “Lunar Depot” could become a precursor to a Deep Space
Gateway that NASA is interested in assembling later in the decade. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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16/10/2017
- Roscosmos, the federal space agency of the Russian Federation,
launched the Progress MS-07 craft on a resupply mission to the
International Space Station on Saturday and docked on a Monday docking. A
previous option for Progress to debut a new super fast rendezvous with
the ISS – docking to the Station just 3.5 hrs after liftoff – was lost
after an earlier scrub. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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16/10/2017
- In what has already been a busy year for SpaceX, the commercial
launch provider is adding one more mission to its jammed-packed
end-of-year schedule. A mysterious mission codenamed Zuma will launch
No Earlier Than 10 November 2017 from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space
Center. Meanwhile, CRS-13 is slipping at least one week per the
Station’s schedule, and the Iridium NEXT-4 mission from Vandenberg has
received permission to debut RTLS landing of the Falcon 9 booster back
at SLC-4W. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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15/10/2017
- United Launch Alliance’s clandestine Atlas V launch in support of the
US National Reconnaissance Office finally departed SLC-41 on Sunday,
after previously failing to dodge bad weather and then suffering a
telemetry transmitter issue. Liftoff of NROL-52 from the Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station occurred at 07:28 Eastern. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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12/10/2017
- The European Space Agency’s Sentinel 5 Precursor satellite launched
Friday aboard what could be the penultimate flight of Russia’s Rokot
carrier rocket. Liftoff, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern
Russia, was on schedule at 12:27 Moscow Time (09:27 UTC). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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11/10/2017
- SpaceX launched its third re-flown Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday,
carrying the EchoStar-105/SES-11 communications satellite into
geosynchronous transfer orbit for SES and EchoStar. Liftoff, from Launch
Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center took place at the opening of a
two-hour window at 18:53 Eastern Time (22:53 UTC), with the booster
landing successfully. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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02/10/2017
- Following the cheers and gasps of Elon Musk’s latest BFR update in
Australia, SpaceX is preparing to return to the bread and butter of its
Falcon 9 manifest, opening with a Static Fire test at Kennedy Space
Center’s 39A. The test – completed part way into the six hour test
window – is an important milestone ahead of the launch of the SES-11
satellite, currently scheduled to take place on October 7. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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29/09/2017
- Speaking at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in
Adelaide, Australia, Elon Musk has laid out a much anticipated update to
SpaceX’s Mars colonization plan – including a slightly scaled back
version of the BFR vehicle introduced last year. Included in this
update, excitingly, was the announcement of the company s aim to
establish a human base on the moon and use the BFR for Earth-based
transport – taking people anywhere on the planet in less than an hour. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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29/09/2017
- Arianespace conducted the fifth Ariane 5 launch of the year with the
lofting of the Intelsat 37e & BSAT-4a satellites from Europe s
Spaceport in French Guiana on Friday. The attempt came after the rocket
aborted on the pad due to an electrical issue with a booster post-main
engine ignition. The abort stopped the boosters from igniting and
allowed for safing to take place. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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28/09/2017
- International Launch Services (ILS) is upping the pace of its
Proton-M launches with another mission following on closely from its
Amazonas 5 success. The Russian workhorse – along with its Breeze-M
upper stage partner – successfully conducted the launch of the AsiaSat-9
satellite from 200/39 site at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Launch occurred at 18:52 UTC. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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28/09/2017
- After two launch mishaps that casted a shadow on the launch plans for
2017, China conducted a secretive launch from the Xichang Satellite
Launch Center, Sichuan province on Friday. An unidentified payload –
later revealed to be Yaogan-30 01 – was launched by the Long March-2C
(Y29) at 04:20 UTC from the LC3 Launch Complex. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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27/09/2017
- Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel,
Maryland, have attached the Parker Solar Probe s solar shadow-shield for
final, integrated vehicle testing ahead of launch. The probe, which
will be the first to touch the Sun is being readied for an anticipated
31 July 2018 launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy
rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL – which will start a
7 year mission to study the Sun. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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25/09/2017
- SpaceX is deep into pre-launch preparations for two upcoming missions
that are set to lift off within a couple of days of each other. Both
target launch dates have moved to the right by a matter of days, with
the SES-11 mission from KSC’s 39A now tracking an October 7 departure,
while on the West Coast the Iridium NEXT-3 mission now has a launch
placeholder of October 9. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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23/09/2017
- United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched an Atlas V rocket on Saturday
evening, carrying out the classified NROL-42 mission for the United
States National Reconnaissance Office. Atlas – delayed two days via the
requirement to changeout a battery on the booster – lifted off from
California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base at 22:49 Pacific Time (05:49 UTC
on Sunday). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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22/09/2017
- Following a series of issues over the last year with the Core Stage
for the first flight of the Space Launch System rocket, the launch dates
for both the EM-1 and EM-2 flights are beginning to align, with EM-1
now targeting No Earlier Than 15 December 2019 and EM-2 following on 1
June 2022. Additionally, the EM-3 flight has gained its first notional
mission outline, detailing a flight to Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit to
deploy the Hab module for the new Deep Space Gateway. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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21/09/2017
- A Soyuz 2-1B rocket has conducted a launch in support of Russia’s
GLONASS satellite navigation system in the early hours of Friday local
time, carrying the Uragan-M No.52S spacecraft on a path to its
destination orbit. Liftoff from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern
Russia was on schedule at 03:02 Moscow Time (00:02 UTC). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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29/08/2017
- NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and
Heat Transport (InSight) mission is back on track for a 2018 launch
after the discovery of leaks in key instrumentation during testing
forced NASA to abandon its original 2016 launch date. The spacecraft is
now in final testing at its Lockheed Martin facility in Denver, ahead of
a unique launch from ULA’s West Coast site. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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28/08/2017
- The third transportation vehicle for NASA’s Commercial Resupply
Services 2 contracts for resupply efforts of the International Space
Station has passed a major ground test milestone at Edwards Air Force
Base, California. Completing a 60 mph (96.5 k/h) tow test earlier this
month, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser mini-spaceplane is now
aiming for a series of Captive Carry flight tests suspended underneath a
234-UT lifting commercial helicopter. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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25/08/2017
- Orbital ATK’s Minotaur rocket made its first launch from Cape
Canaveral Friday, delivering the experimental space surveillance ORS-5
satellite to orbit. The Minotaur IV vehicle lifted off deep into a
four-hour window with a T-0 of 02:04 Eastern (06:04 UTC) from Launch
Complex-46 (LC-46). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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24/08/2017
- SpaceX launched its fortieth Falcon 9 Thursday, carrying the
Formosat-5 spacecraft for the Taiwan’s National Space Organisation and
the Republic of China’s National Space Organisation. The launch, which
included a successful landing of the first stage aboard the Autonomous
Spaceport Drone Ship, occurred at the start of a 44-minute window that
opened at 11:50 local time (18:50 UTC) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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23/08/2017
- NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) still has a number of
concerns over crew safety numbers for the Commercial Crew Program (CCP),
notably the guideline Loss of Crew (LOC) metric, based on the threat of
MicroMeteoroid and Orbital Debris (MMOD) damage and crew recovery from
the ocean after an abort. The plan acknowledged both SpaceX and Boeing
are actively working to improve their LOC ratings. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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21/08/2017
- The Orion European Service Module (ESM) Propulsion Qualification
Module (PQM) is in the opening phases of testing – including hot firings
– at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Bolted to a test
stand, the PQM is being taken through a series of test campaigns by a
team of personnel from prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space, the
European Space Agency (ESA), and NASA. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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19/08/2017
- Gearing up for their second Vandenberg flight in as many months,
SpaceX has static fired the Falcon 9 that will lift an extremely
light-weight Taiwanese satellite to orbit next week. The static fire, a
key step in every Falcon 9 launch campaign, paves the way for the
launch of Formosat-5 on Thursday, 24 August at 11:50 PDT from SLC-4E at
Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, ahead of a first stage landing on the
ASDS “Just Read The Instructions”. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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17/08/2017
- A Russian EVA was conducted outside of the International Space
Station (ISS) with two Russian cosmonauts deploying several
nanosatellites, collecting research samples and performing structural
maintenance. Expedition 52 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight
Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy exited the station’s Pirs airlock at 14:36
UTC and ended it after seven hours and 34 minutes. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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17/08/2017
- United Launch Alliance (ULA) has launched a new satellite for NASA’s
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) on Friday, with an
Atlas V carrying the TDRS-M satellite into orbit. Liftoff from Space
Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral was late in a 40-minute
window, with liftoff occurring at 08:29 local time (12:29 UTC). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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11/08/2017
- Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne has signed an agreement to launch a SITAEL
satellite developed in collaboration with the European Space Agency
(ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The all-electric propulsion
microsat demonstrator called HETsat will be air-launched on a rocket
carried under the wing of Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl carrier plane. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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11/08/2017
- With just one year to go until the scheduled completion of all
uncrewed and crewed test flights for SpaceX and Boeing s commercial crew
transportation services, the NASA Advisory Council recently held a
routine review of the technical, hardware, software, and training
progress the two companies are making toward the goal of returning the
capability to launch people into space from the United States. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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11/08/2017
- Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will launch an H-IIA rocket early
next week, carrying the third spacecraft for the country’s Quasi-Zenith
Satellite System of GPS augmentation satellites. The H-IIA was
scheduled to lift off from the Tanegashima Space Centre with QZS-3 at
13:40 local time (04:40 UTC) on Saturday, before an issue was found late
in the countdown. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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10/08/2017
- SpaceX has conducted a Static Fire test on the Falcon 9 set to launch
the CRS-12 Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS). A
successful test on Thursday paves the way for a launch on Monday, which
will include another landing attempt on the LZ-1 landing pad that is
already being prepared for the dual booster landing during the maiden
Falcon Heavy mission. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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09/08/2017
- A little more than two weeks after the last test, the RS-25 test team
is ready to acceptance test the next completed engine controller unit
(ECU) that will eventually fly on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS)
launch vehicle. Another flight-duration hot-fire of Development Engine
0528 (E0528) is planned Wednesday afternoon local time in the A-1 test
stand at the Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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07/08/2017
- The Vostochny Cosmodrome – a key part of Russia’s future space launch
ambitions – has undergone a maintenance period ahead of what will be
its second launch. The new launch site is currently dedicated to Soyuz
rockets, but will eventually be the future site for the Angara and super
heavy launch vehicles. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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07/08/2017
- Two spacecraft have completed their journeys to their Kourou launch
site ahead of launching together on a September Ariane 5 mission. The
BSAT-4a satellite has joined Intelsat 37e for their final processing
flow ahead of meeting up atop the Arianespace rocket for a dual launch
in early September. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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04/08/2017
- In preparation for New Horizons flyby of its next Kuiper Belt
target, 2014 MU69, the spacecraft s team has conducted a series of
ground, airborne, and space-based telescopic examinations of 2014 MU69
during a series of occultation events in June and July. The observation
campaign has yielded tantalizing new information on the Kuiper Belt
Object, revealing a potentially far more interesting world for New
Horizons to explore on 1 January 2019. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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03/08/2017
- The final work on Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39B is being conducted
in line with the construction and outfitting of systems on the Mobile
Launcher (ML) for the Space Launch System (SLS). This multi-element
verification and validation (V&V) testing is set to take place next
year, a full dress rehearsal ahead of the rollout of the Exploration
Mission-1 (EM-1) rocket. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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02/08/2017
- With a busy year already in the books, the Eastern and Western Ranges
in the United States are readying for the next salvo of missions from
SpaceX and United Launch Alliance following a stand down of launch
operations to provide time for maintenance. Specifically for the
Eastern Range, the stand down period allowed the Air Force to complete
more than 70 operations that will enable the Range to maintain its
commitment and support to its users. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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01/08/2017
- Arianespace s small launcher, the Vega rocket, successfully conducted
the launch of the VEN S and OPTSAT 3000 satellites on Tuesday evening
in what was the seventh Earth observation mission for the lightweight
rocket. Lift off occurred on schedule at 01:58 UTC from Europe s
Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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31/07/2017
- The Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) team at the
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida is continuing construction and
testing to get ready to support upcoming Exploration Mission launches.
Testing at the Launch Equipment Test Facility (LETF) is in full swing
delivering launch vehicle umbilicals and swing arms to the Mobile
Launcher (ML). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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28/07/2017
- The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, has launched three new
crewmembers to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-05
vehicle. Liftoff was on schedule at 15:41 GMT (11:41 EDT) from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with a fast-tracked, four-orbit
rendezvous with the Station. The MS-05 crew docked to the ISS at 21:54
GMT. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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27/07/2017
- With all the structural test articles (STA) of the Orion spacecraft
at prime contractor Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems facility in the
Denver area, work is underway to qualify the elements for the
Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) and Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2) missions
to the Moon. Testing of different combinations of spacecraft hardware
in support of EM-1 and EM-2 will continue into 2019. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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26/07/2017
- Launch delays are sometimes part of the equation in determining when
specific missions launch in relation to each other. Sometimes, those
delays occur to missions for the same agency, as is now the case with
TDRS-M and CRS-12. With replacement operations to the TDRS-M omni
antenna underway, NASA/United Launch Alliance at first requested 10
August for TDRS-M – then changed that a day later to 20 August. SpaceX
has requested 14 August for the CRS-12 Dragon launch to the
International Space Station. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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21/07/2017
- The long-awaited return of American astronauts launching on US
spacecraft, a capability last seen when Atlantis closed out the Shuttle
Program in 2011, is set to return next year. Along with new crew
transporters, the Space Shuttles’ legacy will be honored by the return
of a lifting body vehicle, as Dream Chaser makes progress towards her
role for uncrewed ISS resupply efforts. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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19/07/2017
- Developing rockets is difficult – even when those rockets use
existing rocket boosters. Such is the case for SpaceX and the
development of the Falcon Heavy. Once operational, Falcon Heavy will be
the most powerful rocket in the world. While the path to its inaugural
mission has been challenging, Elon Musk is urging caution surrounding
expectations of the rocket’s first flight, which is expected later this
year from LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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18/07/2017
- The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) pathfinder mission has
come to an end via the final commanding of the spacecraft. The 16 month
mission, has provided the tools for a future mission that may take place
– probably not until the 2030s – having successfully demonstrated the
technology required to operate a space observatory tasked with studying
gravitational waves. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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17/07/2017
- NASA and Boeing are reviewing the status of the TDRS-M launch date
following an incident relating to an antenna during the spacecraft’s
final launch processing to launch. The spacecraft’s launch atop United
Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket is currently scheduled to take place on
August 3. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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15/07/2017
- The first spacecraft to leave the inner solar system sailed into the
asteroid belt 45 years ago today, 15 July 1972, on a mission that would
mark many firsts for NASA s exploration of the solar system. Pioneer
10, the first outer solar system mission, became the first probe not
only to leave the inner solar system, but also the first probe to be
launched on an escape trajectory from the solar system and the first
craft to visit the planet Jupiter. Today, NASA s Juno spacecraft
continues the exploration efforts of the Giant Planet begun by Pioneer
10 over four decades ago. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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14/07/2017
- Russia conducted a complex mission Friday to deploy seventy-three
satellites via a Soyuz-2-1a rocket with a Fregat upper stage. Following
liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:36 local time
(06:36 UTC), the Fregat upper stage performed a series of burns over
eight-and-a-half hours to inject its payloads into their planned polar
orbits. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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11/07/2017
- The Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) is now deep into its
latest phase of processing, as it prepares to be housed in the Space
Station Processing Facility (SSPF) – a facility once packed with modules
waiting for their ride on Shuttles to make up the elements of the
International Space Station (ISS). The ICPS will be the Upper Stage for
the maiden flight of the Space Launch System (SLS). ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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10/07/2017
- Set for launch next year, the BepiColombo spacecraft is coming to the
end of its test phase ahead of being shipped to Kourou, French Guiana
in readiness to begin a journey to Mercury, opening with a ride on the
Ariane 5 rocket. The final major processing tests involved being shaken
on a vibrating table and stacked into its launch configuration in ESA’s
technical center in the Netherlands. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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07/07/2017
- With just 20 satellites of the Iridium Next constellation in orbit,
Iridium Communications six remaining launches with SpaceX over the next
year will place their entire 75 satellite network into polar orbit.
The new constellation replaces an aging network and promises innovative,
everyday telecommunications applications from airplane location
services to maritime distress/communication to public global
push-to-talk services to civilian remote wi-fi and cellular network
capabilities to thousands of other applications for government,
military, and civilian populations. ( source: nasaspaceflight.com - more...)
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