Thursday, March 30

SpaceX

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SpaceX counting down to launch of Amazonas Nexus – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket will launched the the Amazonas Nexus geostationary communications satellite for Hispasat. Follow us on Twitter. SFN Live SpaceX will try again Monday to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with Amazonas Nexus, a powerhouse satellite owned by the Spanish company Hispasat to connect trans-Atlantic airline passengers, maritime traffic, and rural communities across the Americas. The launch was delayed from Sunday due to poor weather at the launch site, and unfavorable conditions downrange in the Atlantic Ocean, where SpaceX plans to land the Falcon 9’s first stage booster on a drone ship. Much better conditions ar...
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Spanish-owned communications satellite ready for weekend launch – Spaceflight Now
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Spanish-owned communications satellite ready for weekend launch – Spaceflight Now

Artist’s concept of the Amazonas Nexus satellite in orbit, with its antennas and solar arrays unfurled. Credit: Thales Alenia Space A nearly five-ton satellite for the Spanish company Hispasat is ready for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Sunday, weather permitting, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, beginning a mission to provide in-flight internet and other communications services over the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean. Hispasat’s Amazonas Nexus satellite, built in France by Thales Alenia Space, is scheduled for launch during a four-hour window opening at 5:32 p.m. EST (2132 GMT) Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. SpaceX will deploy the satellite into an elongated “super synchronous” transfer orbit stretching more than 30,000 miles (50,000 kilometers) above Earth. The...
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20 years after Columbia disaster, lessons learned still in sharp focus at NASA – Spaceflight Now
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20 years after Columbia disaster, lessons learned still in sharp focus at NASA – Spaceflight Now

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The seven-person crew of the space shuttle Columbia in orbit during their 16-day science mission. From left to right (in red): Kalpana Chawla, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark; (in blue): David Brown, William McCool, and Michael Anderson. Credit: NASA Twenty years ago this Wednesday — on Feb. 1, 2003, at 8:48:39 a.m. EST — a sensor in the space shuttle Columbia’s left wing first recorded unusual stress as the orbiter and its seven crew members headed back to Earth to close out a successful 16-day science mission. Over the next 12 minutes, an on-board data recorder would track a cascade of alarming sensor readings and failures on the left side of the spacecraft that indicated a rapidly escalating catastrophe as the blazing heat of re-entry en...
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SpaceX launches 53 more Starlink internet satellites – Spaceflight Now
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SpaceX launches 53 more Starlink internet satellites – Spaceflight Now

“Our action will allow SpaceX to begin deployment of Gen2 Starlink, which will bring next generation satellite broadband to Americans nationwide, including those living and working in areas traditionally unserved or underserved by terrestrial systems,” the FCC wrote in its Dec. 1 order partially approving the Starlink Gen2 constellation. “Our action also will enable worldwide satellite broadband service, helping to close the digital divide on a global scale. “At the same time, this limited grant and associated conditions will protect other satellite and terrestrial operators from harmful interference and maintain a safe space environment, promoting competition and protecting spectrum and orbital resources for future use,” the FCC wrote. “We defer action on the remainder of SpaceX’s applic...
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Space station astronauts finish preps for next pair of new solar arrays – Spaceflight Now
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Space station astronauts finish preps for next pair of new solar arrays – Spaceflight Now

Astronaut Koichi Wakata, in foreground at right, works on the space station’s truss during a spacewalk Thursday. Astronaut Nicole Mann is visible in the background at left. Credit: NASA TV / Spaceflight Now Continuing work left over from a spacewalk last month, astronauts Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata headed outside the International Space Station Thursday to finish installing a mounting bracket for new solar arrays due to arrive at the complex on a SpaceX resupply mission in June. Mann and Wakata switched their spacesuits to internal battery power at 7:45 a.m. EST (1245 GMT) Thursday, marking the official start of the spacewalk. After exiting the Quest airlock, the two astronauts moved to the right, or starboard, side of the space station’s truss backbone to complete assembling a mountin...
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