Tag: NASA
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SpaceX completes Crewed Dragon mission
This morning the first Crewed Dragon mission came to an end with a successful splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. The spacecraft which was launched last Saturday spent five days docked to the International Space Station during which time the crew spent time unloading and loading cargo and performing tests and inspections. The hatches between the…
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Soyuz MS-11 launches and docks successfully
Just over seven weeks after the MS-10 launch failed to reach space Russia resumed crewed launches today with the successful launch and docking of the Soyuz MS-11 spacecraft today. The launch lifted off at 6:31 am EST and successfully docked at 12:34 pm EST just four orbits later. Once the leak checks are completed the…
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ULA launches NASA’s ICESat2
Early this morning United Launch Alliance successfully launched NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satelite 2 (ICESat2). The launch was slightly delayed due to an issue with the bottle temperatures during the countdown. This issue was quickly resolved and the mission completed successfully. This was the final launch of the venerable Delta II which has…
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SpaceX Launches TESS
This evening SpaceX successfully launched the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) telescope this evening. SpaceX’s eighth launch of the year and 53rd overall for Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Launch Complex (LC)-40 following a smooth countdown. The TESS telescope was delivered to orbit approximately 48 minutes later to begin on-orbit…
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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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International Docking Adapter successfully installed
The International Docking Adapter (IDA) that was transported to the International Space Station (ISS) in the trunk of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft was successfully installed to the end of the Pressurized Mating Adapter 2 (PMA-2) during a spacewalk today. Astronauts Jeff Williams and Kate Rubins performed a 5 hour 58 minute spacewalk to complete the…
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SpaceX CRS-8 launches successfully – First Stage Lands
Ten months after the failed CRS-7 launch SpaceX resumed their servicing missions to the International Space Station today with the successful launch of their Dragon spacecraft. Following a smooth countdown the Falcon 9 lifted off at 4:43 pm EDT to begin a 10 minute climb to orbit. As with previous launches SpaceX also attempted to…
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Progress MS-02 launches to ISS
The Russian Progress MS-02 spacecraft launched successfully today beginning a two day journey to dock with the International Space Station. Roscosmos elected to do the two day journey to allow time to fully test all the upgraded systems on the newer MS version of the vehicle. The first Soyuz MS crewed mission is due to launch…
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First British Astronaut arrives at the #ISS
European Space Agency Astronaut Tim Peake of the UK arrived at the International Space Station today following a smooth launch and four orbit accelerated rendezvous. Tim and fellow travelers NASA’s Tim Kopra and RSA’s Yuri Malenchenko lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome at 6:03 AM EST today and once in orbit begun there four orbit, six hour…
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Orbital ATK’s CRS Cargo Missions resume
More than a year after the catastrophic failure of the Antares Launch vehicle which resulted in the lose of the Cygnus Cargo vehicle and its payload Orbital’s enhanced Cygnus vehicle lifted off from Cape Canaveral today with the help of an United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The launch which was delayed three times due to…