Gizmodo reports United Launch Alliance’s “202-foot-tall (61.6-meter) Vulcan Centaur rocket is set to launch from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral” on Monday, January 8. According to Gizmodo, this is a “huge deal, as it marks the debut of ULA’s first new rocket design in 18 years. While the (mostly) expendable Vulcan Centaur may not be revolutionary from a technological perspective, it represents a significant evolutionary step for ULA.”
Full Story (Gizmodo)
Tag: Cape Canaveral
SpaceX Stands Down Both Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 Launches
The Orlando Sentinel reports that SpaceX “is standing down from attempting to launch its powerhouse Falcon Heavy for now, citing the need for ‘systems checkouts’ while weather would have been an issue the next couple of days.” It has already “delayed a Falcon 9 launch as well.” After delaying a Sunday attempt “to launch Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A because of weather and then scrubbing a Monday night attempt less than an hour before its planned liftoff because of a ‘ground side issue,’ SpaceX had announced it would try again Wednesday.” But late Tuesday, “it called off those plans.” USSF-52 is a mission “to send up the Space Force’s secretive mini shuttle, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle built by Boeing, on what would be the spacecraft’s seventh trip to orbit.” The classified missions “have sent it on longer and longer duration flights each time, having spent nearly 909 days in space the last time around.” Weather was also the reason “it called off both a late Tuesday attempt and a planned Wednesday attempt to launch a Falcon 9 from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on another Starlink mission.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch of X-37B Space Plane Delayed
SPACE reported that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket “is poised to launch the X-37B space plane for the US Space Force on Monday evening (Dec. 11) after a one-day delay due to weather, and you can likely watch the action live.” Liftoff of the Falcon Heavy “is scheduled to occur from Launch Complex-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, during a 10-minute window that opens at 8:14 p.m. EST (0114 GMT Dec. 12).” The upcoming launch “will be the seventh launch to date for the reusable X-37B space plane its first-ever ride on a Falcon Heavy, which could have consequences for its coming orbital mission.” Five of the six X-37B launches “to date have employed United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets, with one other using a SpaceX Falcon 9.”
Full Story (SPACE)
US Spaceplane to Return to Orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy
FlightGlobal reports that the secretive “spaceplane” operated by the US Space Force (USSF) “will return to orbit for its seventh long-endurance mission, this time aboard the world’s largest commercial rocket.” The USSF “announced the Boeing X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) will launch on 7 December from Cape Canaveral, Florida for the ultra-long endurance spacecraft’s seventh mission.” The announcement “comes almost exactly one year after the X-37B landed from its sixth flight mission in November 2022.” That flight, which “launched in May 2020, lasted 908 days and carried a solar energy experiment for the US Navy and a satellite for the US Air Force Academy.” The goal “of the latest orbital flight, dubbed X-37B Mission 7 or OTV-7, is to experiment with new space technologies aimed at furthering the ‘safe, stable, and secure operations in space for all users,’ the USSF says.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)
SpaceX Launch Marks a Tie of 2022’s Record Number of Launches
Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that a SpaceX launch “from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday night marked the Space Coast’s 57th launch of the year equaling the record total seen in 2022.” A Falcon 9 with 22 SpaceX Starlink internet satellites “lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:36 p.m.” This was the first-stage booster’s 16th flight “with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic.” For SpaceX it “was its 53rd mission from either Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center this year while United Launch Alliance has flown three times and Relativity Space has flown once.” SpaceX is the “lone launch provider this year from KSC having flown 11 times while ULA, SpaceX and Relativity combined for 46 launches from Canaveral.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Video
SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, 17 October 2023
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches Two Missions in One Day
Orlando (FL) Sentinel reported that after abiding by NASA’s request “to give its Psyche mission on a Falcon Heavy launch its full attention this week, SpaceX lined up and knocked out a Falcon 9 launch just hours later on Friday.” The day “began with Falcon Heavy making its eighth ever flight lifting off from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A cutting through haze and clouds at 10:19 a.m. to successfully bring to space NASA’s $700 million probe that had a six-year flight ahead of it for a rendezvous with a metal-rich asteroid also named Psyche.” Sandwiched in between Falcon Heavy’s launch pad “and its booster landing zones was the Falcon 9 rocket on Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 that had been holding off launch with its Starlink satellite payload since weather forced it to stand down last Sunday.” But with Psyche safely in space, SpaceX “was ready to go and weather stayed green for it to launch that Falcon 9 eight hours and 42 minutes later carrying another 22 Starlink internet satellites into space.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Video
SpaceX Starlink 113 launch and Falcon 9 first stage landing, 13 October 2023
(SciNews; YouTube)
AIAA Statement on NASA’s Psyche Launch
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:
“Congratulations to NASA on today’s successful launch to study the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. We believe this mission is fueled by our human drive to learn more about the origins of our solar system. We look forward to following the mission’s progress.
We commend NASA’s entire Psyche team, including AIAA Corporate Members: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Maxar Technologies, and SpaceX, along with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Malin Space Science Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA Headquarters, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Planetary Science Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Southwest Research Institute, University of Arizona, University of California Los Angeles, Yale University, and over a dozen other universities and research institutions. We applaud the international partnership on this mission with the German Space Agency (DLR), the Côte d’Azur Observatory in France, and Technical University of Denmark.
On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we recognize the professionals in the aerospace industry involved in making this mission a success. We applaud the Psyche team for making important contributions to shaping the future of aerospace.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
SpaceX Launches 21 More Starlink Satellites from California
SPACE reports that early Monday morning, SpaceX launched 21 more of its Starlink broadband satellites “atop a Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.” Liftoff occurred at 3:23 a.m. ET, which was “streamed live via SpaceX’s account on X (formerly known as Twitter).” Eight and half minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage made a successful “vertical landing at sea on the SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.” Just over an hour after launch, the Falcon 9’s upper stage “deployed the 21 Starlink spacecraft into low Earth orbit.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
SpaceX Starlink 112 launch and Falcon 9 first stage landing, 9 October 2023
(SciNews; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches 22 More Starlink Satellites
SPACE reports that SpaceX “launched 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit early this morning (Oct. 5), on the company’s 70th orbital mission of the year.” The Starlink spacecraft “lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight at 1:36 a.m. EDT (0536 GMT).” The rocket had originally “been targeted to launch on Wednesday at 10:45 p.m. EDT (0245 GMT on Oct. 5), but was delayed several hours by poor weather conditions.” As to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage “returned to Earth for a vertical landing at sea on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions about 8.5 minutes after launch.” It was the eighth “liftoff and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description.” This morning’s flight “was the 70th orbital mission for SpaceX in 2023. The majority of those launches have been dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation, which currently consists of more than 4,800 operational satellites.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with Starlink internet satellites
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
SpaceX Launches 69th Orbital Flight of 2023 from Florida
Orlando Sentinel reported that a SpaceX Falcon 9 “took off from the 39th time from Cape Canaveral this year, marking the 49th SpaceX flight from the Space Coast and 69th orbital mission among all of its launch sites.” The rocket “lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10 p.m. after poor weather conditions delayed earlier attempts.” The first-stage booster “made its 10th flight once again making a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.” SpaceX has “flown all but three of the Space Coast’s 52 missions this year, with Relativity Space adding one and United Launch Alliance managing two more.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Video
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Starlink 6-19 Mission
(NASA Spaceflight; YouTube)