Category: Commercial
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SpaceX successfully launches another 10 Iridium Next satellites
This morning SpaceX completed their 14th launch of the year and second of the week with the successful deployment of another 10 Iridium Next satellites. This was the second launch of the morning coming just 14 minutes after the Arianespace launch, however, the mission completed first due to the shorter coast phase before deployment. Launching…
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SpaceX successfully launches Telstar 19V satellite
Early this morning SpaceX completed their 13th launch of the year with the successful deployment of the Telstar 19V satellite to its Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). This was the 2nd flight of the new Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 and was also the heaviest payload SpaceX has deployed to GTO weighing in at…
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Blue Origin completes 9th New Shepard Test Flight
Blue Origin completed their 9th test flight of New Shepard from their launch site in West Texas. For this test, Blue Origin tested the Capsule Escape Motor approximately 20 seconds after separation to determine how the Solid Rocket Motor operates at that attitude. There was some concern that the test could cause issues for the booster…
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Further delays to JWST
This week NASA announced further delays to the James Webb Space Telescope which was originally supposed to launch this year and has now been delayed to Now Earlier Than (NET) 2021. The delays which have been caused by several factors from human error during construction/testing, design complexity and basically poor management of the project are…
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My first live launch – SpaceX CRS-15
Today my family and I were able to see our first live rocket launch with the successful liftoff of the Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon Spacecraft to orbit for SpaceX’s CRS-15 mission to the International Space Station. Originally the plan was to get up a 2 in the morning and drive from Davenport, FL to…
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SpaceX successfully launches SES-12 satellite
Early this morning SpaceX successfully launched the SES-12 satellite, the launch was originally scheduled for May 31st but was delayed to allow SpaceX additional time to check the rocket’s second stage to ensure mission success. The nine Merlin 1D engines came to life at 12:45 am EDT following a smooth countdown and propelled the payload…
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SpaceX launches Iridium and NASA Satellites
SpaceX continued their 2018 campaign with the successful launch of five more Iridium Next satellites as well as two for NASA. The NASA satellites consisted of two Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-on (GRACE-FO) satellites which will measure variations in gravity over Earth’s surface. The two Grace satellites were deployed shortly after the second stage reached…
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Orbital ATK launches Cygnus J.R. Thompson
Orbital ATK successfully launched their Cygnus spacecraft towards the International Space Station this morning. The spacecraft named J.R. Thompon is carrying 7,385 lbs of cargo to the station and is scheduled to be captured on Thursday by the stations Canadarm 2. As with the previous Cygnus launches the spacecraft was given a name this time…
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SpaceX successfully launches Bangabandhu Satellite-1
SpaceX continued its 2018 launch campaign with the successful launch of the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 aboard its first Block 5 Falcon 9. The Block 5 variant of the Falcon 9 has been designated as the final version and incorporates a number of changes designed to allow multiple flights to be performed by each booster with minimal…
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SpaceX Dragon completes CRS-14 mission
SpaceX’s Dragon Capsule completed its CRS-14 mission today with the successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. The capsule which was launched on April 2nd and spent 31 days attached to the International Space Station before being loaded with critical experiments and cargo that will now be processed by NASA. Good splashdown of Dragon confirmed, completing…