SPACE reports that Blue Origin’s first mission “in more than 15 months was officially delayed on Monday (Dec. 18) after a last-minute scrub.” Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle “was originally supposed to lift off as early as 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT or 8:30 a.m. EST) on Monday.” Following a one-hour delay “due to cold temperatures at the company’s West Texas site, however, Blue Origin announced a scrub on X, formerly known as Twitter.” Officials said, “We’re scrubbing #NS24 today due to a ground system issue the team is troubleshooting. We’ll provide a new launch target for this week soon.”
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Tag: Delays
SpaceX Delays Crew-8 Launch to Feb. 28
SPACE reports “NASA’s next astronaut launch will delay nearly a week to let a moon mission leave Earth first.” NASA will launch the Crew-8 astronauts on Feb. 28, to “deconflict” from the expected launch date of a robotic moon mission with agency…
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KC-46 RVS, Refueling Pod Fixes Delaying Test Process
Aviation Week reported that the Pentagon’s operational test and evaluation office “has collected all the data it can on the Boeing KC-46A Pegasus, as it awaits two key fixes to the tanker – a revamp of the aircraft’s wing refueling pods and the long-awaited redesign of its Remote Vision System.”
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Launch of 22 Starlink Satellites from California Delayed
SPACE reports, “SpaceX has reset the launch of another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to no sooner than Friday evening (March 29). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft was set to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday (March 28), but the company called off the attempt before beginning to fuel the vehicle.”
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NASA Delays Test Flights of X-59 to 2024
Aviation Week in paywalled coverage reports NASA “has pushed back the first flight of the X-59 low-boom supersonic demonstrator to 2024 after a series of subsystem issues encountered during check-out tests at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, late this summer proved harder to solve than expected.”
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Storm Delays SpaceX Launch while Artemis I Remains on Launchpad for Now
Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX has pushed back the flight of its next Falcon 9 rocket from Tuesday to Saturday as Subtropical Storm Nicole threatens the east coast of Florida, officials said Monday.” However, NASA is still keeping Artemis I on the Kennedy Space Center launchpad for its launch attempt next week. SpaceX is now scheduling its launch for Saturday for delivery of Intelsat’s Galaxy 31 and 32.
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Boeing 787 Dreamliner Production Hampered by Production Flaws
The Wall Street Journal reports on issues with the production of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Dreamliner is the first aircraft produced by The Boeing Company that relies on parts produced by a global network of suppliers.
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Helium Leak Causes Delay of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn Astronaut Launch Until August 28
SPACE reports that SpaceX has pushed the launch of the historic Polaris Dawn astronaut mission back 24 hours, to Wednesday morning (Aug. 28), due to a helium leak. “’Teams are taking a closer look at a ground-side helium leak on the Quick Disconnect umbilical. Falcon and Dragon remain healthy and the crew continues to be ready for their multi-day mission to low Earth orbit,’ SpaceX announced in an X post on Monday evening (Aug. 26).”
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Aviation Week Article: Airbus Delays Hydrogen But Expands Engine Test Plan
Guy Norris at Aviation Week reports, “Airbus is slowing ambitions to develop a hydrogen-fueled airliner by the mid-2030s but is expanding nearer-term plans to flight test unducted and ducted sustainable aviation fueled (SAF) engines for its next-generation single aisle. Under its ZEROe initiative announced in 2020, Airbus planned to develop a 100-seat hydrogen-fueled airliner for service entry in the middle of next decade, and aimed to flight test supporting propulsion and systems technology on an Airbus A380 later this decade.”
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