SpaceX are continuing to make progress with their NASA commercial crew contract, with the latest milestone involving the firing of their SuperDraco thruster engine, an integrated element of the Dragon which will be used as its Launch Abort System (LAS). However, these engines are hoping to gain additional roles, including the ability to land Dragon [...]
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SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 flight with the Dragon spaceship – a mission which is expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) – is slipping in order to allow for due diligence “safety checks” ahead of launch. SpaceX’s decision to slip what was a February 7 launch came after comments noting their sense of [...]
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Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) will begin testing on a vertical propulsion landing system later this year, part of a long-term project to evaluate the potential of creating a fully-reusable version of their Falcon 9 launch vehicle. SpaceX believe a fully and rapidly reusable orbital class rocket would provide a critical breakthrough for the human [...]
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The six-member crew of the International Space Station (ISS) have been hard at work over the past few weeks, performing multiple hardware and software upgrades in order to ready the station to support the new fleet of commercial resupply vehicles, ahead of next month’s inaugural visit of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to the orbital outpost.
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The International Space Station (ISS) has now entered what will be a challenging new year, which will see access to the station for both crews and cargo tested, in wake of last year’s retirement of the Space Shuttle, the start of new commercial resupply flights, and recent failures of Russian launch vehicles.
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In what will be a highly historic mission, NASA managers announced they have approved the combination of the Dragon C2/C3 (D2/D3) Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) missions, pending final reviews. A preliminary launch date of February 7 was also set, which will see SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch with an unmanned Dragon to the ISS.
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SpaceX’s Dragon demonstration flight to the International Space Station (ISS) is understood to be moving into the February/March timeframe, while approval for the combination of the C2/C3 (D2/D3) missions – which would result in Dragon arriving at the orbital outpost – is still pending official approval from NASA and the ISS partners. UPDATE: Combined Mission approved on [...]
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As part of standard operating procedure, the ISS community has completed a review of the International Space Station’s systems – noting both progress and anomalies on the orbiting laboratory as well as reviewing preparations for the upcoming Dragon, Cygnus, and HTV-3 flights.
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Negotiations between the numerous International Space Station (ISS) partners are starting to result in an exciting 2012 manifest, as Agency vehicles play tag team with new commercial resupply craft. From a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) standpoint, three – or four, if the C2/C3 demo slips to 2012 – SpaceX Dragon flights are set to head [...]
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Russia’s Soyuz TMA-21/26S spacecraft departed the International Space Station (ISS) today (Friday 16th September) prior to landing in Kazakhstan a few hours later. Soyuz TMA-21, carrying American astronaut Ron Garan and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev & Andrey Borisenko, undocked from the Mini Research Module-2 (MRM-2) Zenith docking port at 12:38 AM GMT, before landing at [...]
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In what will be a major milestone, not only for SpaceX, but for the entire space program, International Space Station (ISS) teams are working through the long list of safety requirements to approve Dragon’s debut ‘test’ mission to the orbital outpost. Several specific areas of interest are in work, including ongoing evaluations into the potential [...]
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NASA HQ appear to be closing in on a decision to combine the second and third of three planned Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) demonstration flights (C2 and C3) of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule. Internal schedules, presentations and memos are continuing to point towards a working plan for a preliminary November 30 launch date for the [...]
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NASA has awarded four Space Act Agreements in the second round of the agency’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev-2), a commercial effort aimed to foster domestic crew transportation by the middle of the decade. The winners – ranging from lifting body to capsule spacecrafts – were Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and [...]
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The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched on its maiden flight Wednesday, beginning a series of demonstration missions as part of NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) programme. The mission, known as Dragon C1, launched from Cape Canaveral atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 10:43am Eastern, before the spacecraft splashed down around 19:00 UTC.
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As part of a full launch dress rehearsal at Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, SpaceX conduct a static fire of their Falcon 9 launch vehicle on Saturday, in preparation for the first Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) launch of the Dragon spacecraft. Friday’s static fire was aborted at 1.1 seconds due to high chamber readings Engine [...]
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The DragonEye (DE) relative navigation sensor – set to ride with Discovery on STS-133 – will be installed two weeks later than planned, following a laser rod failure during testing. Discovery – currently enjoying a smooth processing flow – will be conducting the second test for the sensor during her arrival at the International Space [...]
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Following its arrival onboard shuttle Atlantis during STS-129, the CRS UHF Communication Unit (CUCU) – a key element for the upcoming demonstration of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule – has passed a series of tests on the International Space Station (ISS), allowing the commercial company to confirm its successful activation.
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NASA managers are pushing through the shutdown of the Constellation Program (CxP) at a pace, with a series of memos showing all the Ares test flights have already been cancelled, along Orion ‘defunded’ and returned to the sole control of contractor Lockheed Martin. Meanwhile, MOD director Paul Hill has written to NASA administrator Charlie Bolden, [...]
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When STS-129 launches next week, Atlantis will have one eye on the future, as she carries the CRS UHF Communication Unit (CUCU), a key element for the upcoming demonstration of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, ahead of its debut arrival at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2010.
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With Space Shuttle Endeavour now well into her OPF (Orbiter Processing Facility) flow for her triple duty requirements as LON (Launch On Need) vehicle for STS-119 and STS-125 and her primary mission on STS-127, the Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) has completed the Delta Launch Site Requirements Review (DLSRR) for STS-127, a critical step toward [...]
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