Category: Commercial
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Why we need multiple providers for Space Access
It became clear again this week why it is critical that we have multiple providers to access Space. With the Progress 59 (M-27M) failure recently the International Partners involved in the ISS have now had to rescheduled several future flights to accommodate the loss of the vehicle and allow time for the investigation into the loss…
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SpaceX completes Dragon 2 pad abort test
SpaceX completed another CCiCap milestone today with the successful Launchpad Abort Test of there Dragon 2 capsule. The capsules 8 SuperDraco engines propelled the vehicle away from the launchpad to a splashdown in the Atlantic ocean. The purpose of the test was to verify the design of the launch escape system a critical element for…
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Blue Origin Launches New Shepard
Blue Origin completed the first test flight of there New Shepard rocket yesterday, the New Shepard rocket uses their BE-3 engine which recently completed testing. The rocket is design to be fully re-usable, unfortunately they were not able to recover the main stage this time due to a hydraulic issue after the crew capsule was…
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SpaceX launches TurkmenAlem52E/MonacoSat satellite
SpaceX has completed their 5th launch of the year with the delivery of the TurkmenAlem52E/MonacoSat satellite to orbit. The launch was delayed several weeks to allow SpaceX time to investigate issues they found with Helium bottles back at the factory and to allow the CRS-6 mission to take off on time. With this launch SpaceX…
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Dragon Berthed to ISS
The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully arrived at the International Space Station this morning completing a two day journey which started with the picture perfect launch on Tuesday. ESA Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti controlled the ISS robotic arm and captured of Dragon at 6:55 am EDT. Mission control then manoveured the spacecraft to the Berthing which was…
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SpaceX Landing Attempt
For the second time SpaceX attempted to land a Falcon 9 first stage on the Autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) named “Just Read the Instructions”. For this attempt the rocket got very close but didn’t survive the attempt, the first time the rocket tipped over just before landing causing it to fall over the side.…
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SpaceX CRS-6 mission lifts off
SpaceX completed it’s fourth launch of 2015 with the liftoff of the CRS-6 Dragon capsule towards the International Space Station. SpaceX confirmed that after separation from the second stage the Dragon spacecraft successfully deployed it’s Solar Array’s and is now heading towards the International Space Station. It is scheduled to arrive at approximately 7:00 a.m. EDT on…
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Will ULA’s Vulcan bring down SpaceX
Almost as soon as United Launch Alliance’s Tory Bruno announced the new Vulcan rocket system did articles start to appear stating that it “would bring down SpaceX”. One from CNN also incorrectly stated that SpaceX aborted the landing of the first stage yesterday. While that may be the goal of ULA it is way too…
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ULA announces new Launch System
Today United Launch Alliance announced there next generation launch system named Vulcan. ULA’s Tory Bruno announced that the new launch system will be rolled out in multiple steps. The first step will be the replacement first stage, followed later by a new upper stage. The first stage of the rocket will be powered by two…
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SpaceX CRS-6 launch aborted due to Weather constraint
Today’s launch of a Falcon 9 carrying SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station was aborted two minutes before liftoff today due to weather constraints. A storm cell with Anvil clouds came too close to the launch pad during the countdown. Currently weather looks like there is a 50% chance of constraint for an…