Spaceflight Insider

  • Weather being watched ahead of Demo-2 return

    Theresa CrossJuly 31st SpaceX and NASA, in preparation for the upcoming undocking of the DEMO-2 Crew Dragon from the International Space Station, are continuing to monitor weather patterns in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

  • Perseverance rover launches on its journey to explore Mars

    Matt HaskellJuly 30th CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – At 7:50 a.m. EDT, the ULA Atlas V rocket lifted off on its journey to Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover, and Ingenuity helicopter.

  • NASA, ULA on the eve of launch of Perseverance Mars rover

    Matt HaskellJuly 29th Years of hard work and preparation have culminated in NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, sitting  atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral, set to leave Earth as early as 7:50 a.m. EDT (11:50 UTC) Thursday morning.

  • Mars 2020 Flight Readiness Review complete, Launch Readiness Review tomorrow

    Theresa CrossJuly 26th Preparations continue at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the upcoming Mars 2020 launch, currently scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 on Thursday, July 30, 2020. Most recently completed was the Flight Readiness Review, the critical review step which confirmed the readiness of the equipment, teams and resources required […]

  • First GEM 63 solid motors delivered to Cape Canaveral

    Matt HaskellJuly 24th Northrop Grumman has delivered the first 3 of their new 63-inch Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM 63) rocket motors to Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in preparation for their first launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

  • Progress MS-15 cargo ship takes ‘express lane’ to ISS

    Derek RichardsonJuly 23rd The Russian Progress MS-15 cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station in a reported record time to deliver supplies and experiments to the Expedition 63 crew, despite a last-second misalignment.

  • Spacewalkers set the stage for future ISS additions

    Derek RichardsonJuly 21st NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken completed their fourth spacewalk in less than a month to upgrade the International Space Station, setting the stage for future additions to the 20-year-old outpost.

  • SpaceX successfully catches both Anasis-2 fairing halves

    Matt HaskellJuly 21st For the very first time in the history of the storied spaceflight provider SpaceX, both Falcon 9 payload fairing halves have been successfully caught mid-flight by the companies twin recovery ships.

  • Minotaur IV sucessfully sends NROL-129 into blue, Virginia skies

    Steve HammerJuly 15th Virginia based Northrop Grumman today launched classified mission NROL-129 for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) aboard a Minotaur IV rocket from launchpad 0B at The Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), adjacent to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. The countdown clock was held at T-minus 16 minutes for 46 minutes, allowing for multiple […]

  • Northrop Grumman set to loft NROL-129 atop Minotaur IV

    Sean CostelloJuly 14th Teams from Northrop Grumman, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport (MARS) are all reporting as being poised and ready to launch the NROL-129 mission tomorrow, July 15, 2020, atop a Minotaur IV rocket. Even the weather appears to be supportive, with the latest forecast indicating only a 10% chance of violating acceptable […]

  • OneWeb to receive USD $1 Billion from United Kingdom, Bharti Global

    Theresa CrossJuly 8th On July 3, OneWeb announced that a consortium of Her Majesty’s Government (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global Limited had committed to provide more than USD$1 billion to acquire OneWeb and fund the full restart of its business operations.

  • Commercial spaceflight advocate outlines revolution in the field

    Laurel KornfeldJuly 7th Bruce Pittman of NASA’s Space Portal Office, a 35-year advocate for commercial spaceflight, outlined his vision of the endeavor over the next 42 months in a June webinar run by NASA’s Night Sky Network.

  • Weather being watched ahead of Demo-2 return

    Theresa CrossJuly 31st SpaceX and NASA, in preparation for the upcoming undocking of the DEMO-2 Crew Dragon from the International Space Station, are continuing to monitor weather patterns in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

  • Perseverance rover launches on its journey to explore Mars

    Matt HaskellJuly 30th CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – At 7:50 a.m. EDT, the ULA Atlas V rocket lifted off on its journey to Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover, and Ingenuity helicopter.

  • NASA, ULA on the eve of launch of Perseverance Mars rover

    Matt HaskellJuly 29th Years of hard work and preparation have culminated in NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, sitting  atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral, set to leave Earth as early as 7:50 a.m. EDT (11:50 UTC) Thursday morning.

  • Mars 2020 Flight Readiness Review complete, Launch Readiness Review tomorrow

    Theresa CrossJuly 26th Preparations continue at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the upcoming Mars 2020 launch, currently scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 on Thursday, July 30, 2020. Most recently completed was the Flight Readiness Review, the critical review step which confirmed the readiness of the equipment, teams and resources required […]

  • First GEM 63 solid motors delivered to Cape Canaveral

    Matt HaskellJuly 24th Northrop Grumman has delivered the first 3 of their new 63-inch Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM 63) rocket motors to Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in preparation for their first launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

  • Progress MS-15 cargo ship takes ‘express lane’ to ISS

    Derek RichardsonJuly 23rd The Russian Progress MS-15 cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station in a reported record time to deliver supplies and experiments to the Expedition 63 crew, despite a last-second misalignment.

  • Spacewalkers set the stage for future ISS additions

    Derek RichardsonJuly 21st NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken completed their fourth spacewalk in less than a month to upgrade the International Space Station, setting the stage for future additions to the 20-year-old outpost.

  • SpaceX successfully catches both Anasis-2 fairing halves

    Matt HaskellJuly 21st For the very first time in the history of the storied spaceflight provider SpaceX, both Falcon 9 payload fairing halves have been successfully caught mid-flight by the companies twin recovery ships.

  • Minotaur IV sucessfully sends NROL-129 into blue, Virginia skies

    Steve HammerJuly 15th Virginia based Northrop Grumman today launched classified mission NROL-129 for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) aboard a Minotaur IV rocket from launchpad 0B at The Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), adjacent to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. The countdown clock was held at T-minus 16 minutes for 46 minutes, allowing for multiple […]

  • Northrop Grumman set to loft NROL-129 atop Minotaur IV

    Sean CostelloJuly 14th Teams from Northrop Grumman, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport (MARS) are all reporting as being poised and ready to launch the NROL-129 mission tomorrow, July 15, 2020, atop a Minotaur IV rocket. Even the weather appears to be supportive, with the latest forecast indicating only a 10% chance of violating acceptable […]

  • OneWeb to receive USD $1 Billion from United Kingdom, Bharti Global

    Theresa CrossJuly 8th On July 3, OneWeb announced that a consortium of Her Majesty’s Government (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global Limited had committed to provide more than USD$1 billion to acquire OneWeb and fund the full restart of its business operations.

  • SpaceX set to launch third GPS-III satellite, SV03

    Matt HaskellJune 30th SpaceX is poised to launch the next satellite in the GPS-III series atop its proven Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, marking the newest launch of the new satellite constellation.

  • Perseverance mission scientist outlines rover’s instruments, mission

    Laurel KornfeldJune 23rd One month before the scheduled launch of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, Roger Wiens, who serves as both principal investigator of its SuperCam laser instrument and as co-investigator of its SHERLOC team, discussed the mission’s science instruments and its purpose in a virtual webinar presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI).

  • Locked and Loaded: Artemis I’s muscle delivered to KSC

    SpaceFlight InsiderJune 16th NASA, still riding high on regaining the ability to launch astronauts to low-Earth-orbit is now preparing to turn the dial up to eleven. LEO is nice and all - but flying to the Moon is way better. The agency is pulling this pieces to achieve just that.

  • NASA TAPS ASTROBOTIC TO DELIVER VIPER ROVER TO THE MOON

    Michael ColeJune 16th NASA awarded a nearly $200 million contract Thursday to Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, to deliver NASA’s VIPER rover to a destination at the moon’s south pole in 2023.

  • 3 SkySat, 58 Starlink satellites fly during first SpaceX Rideshare launch

    Cullen DesforgesJune 13th At 5:21 a.m. EDT, SpaceX’s ninth set of Starlink satellites departed Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40, flying with three SkySat satellites, part of the company’s first commercial ride share arrangement.

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