Category: ISS
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SpaceX launches Dragon on 14th CRS mission
This afternoon SpaceX launched their 14th Dragon mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40. Following a smooth countdown, the nine Merlin 1D engines powered the rocket and its payload to orbit. This was the 7th launch for SpaceX in 2018, the 52nd Falcon 9 launch and 11th…
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SpaceX’s Dragon successfully completes CRS-13 mission
The Dragon capsule that was launched late last year completed it’s mission to the International Space Station with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean today. In another first, this time for NASA and the Canadian Space Agency the Dragon capsule was released by the robotics engineers on the ground instead of using the Astronauts aboard…
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The Year of Commercial Crew
If all goes to plan this year we should see at least four Commercial Crew vehicle launches as Boeing and SpaceX complete their uncrewed and crewed demo launches. In addition, we should also see an in-flight launch abort from SpaceX as they test the system and Max-Q when the maximum dynamic pressure is felt by…
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SpaceX launches CRS-13 mission to ISS
SpaceX successfully launched their CRS-13 mission to the International Space Station today marking the return to flight for Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The launch was delayed a couple of days to allow SpaceX time to resolve an issue with particles in the 2nd stage fuel system. This launch…
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Orbital ATK launches Cygnus on OA-8 mission
Following a one day delay, due to a wayward plane during the countdown yesterday, Orbital ATK successfully launched their Cygnus spacecraft, S.S. Gene Cernan today for an International Space Station rendezvous on Tuesday. This was the second Cygnus launch on the companies own Antares 230 vehicle, which uses the Russia RD-181 engines. This was the…
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SpaceX launches CRS-12 mission
SpaceX resumed their 2017 launch campaign today with the successful launch of the Dragon vehicle for the CRS-12 mission to the International Space Station. As with previous CRS launches the first stage returned to land at Landing Zone 1. This launch comes after a month break to allow the 45th Space Wing to perform maintenance…
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SpaceX Dragon completes visit to ISS
In what looks to become another busy day for SpaceX the Dragon cargo vehicle that spent a month at the station following its successful launch last month was released by the station this morning and completed a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 8:12 EDT. This was the second mission for this vehicle and…
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SpaceX launches CRS-11 to ISS
SpaceX passed another important milestone, on their route to reusability, with the successful launch of the CRS-11 Dragon mission to the International Space Station. The Dragon capsule used for this launch previously flew to the ISS on the CRS-4 mission in September 2014 and following some refurbishment and re-certification was approved for this current mission.…
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ISS Contingency Spacewalk Completed Successfully
Astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer completed a 2 hour 41-minute contingency spacewalk today following the failure of an Multiplexer-Demultiplexer (MDM) over the weekend. During the walk, they successfully replaced the MDM and also installed two wireless network antenna’s This was Peggy’s 10th walk for a total time of 60 hours 21-minutes, surpassing John Grunsfeld to…
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200th ISS Spacewalk Complete
Astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer completed a 4 hours, 13 minute spacewalk successfully today, this was the 200th at the International Space Station. The spacewalk which was shortened due to an issue with a Service and Cooling Umbilical hose used to provide power and consumables to the spacesuits while inside of the station, this…