SpaceX Pushes Return to Flight to January with Iridium NEXT Satellites

By Mike Killian, on December 7th, 2016

File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching 11 satellites for ORBCOMM Dec. 21, 2015. Their next scheduled launch will be the first following the loss of AMOS-6 last September, flying 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., as soon as early January 2017. Photo Credit: Mike Killian / AmericaSpace

SpaceX […]

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Historic First Falcon-9 to Land from Space Transported to KSC 39A for Testing

By Mike Killian, on December 28th, 2015

The first SpaceX Falcon-9 first stage booster to launch payload to space and land back at Cape Canaveral is seen here arriving at the company’s Launch Complex 39A, the historic site of many of NASA’s Apollo and space shuttle missions. The booster will now undergo numerous tests at the launch site where SpaceX […]

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SpaceX Launch and Landing Attempt GO Tonight at Cape Canaveral

By Mike Killian, on December 21st, 2015

SpaceX is scheduled to launch their Falcon-9 rocket tonight on its first launch since the loss of CRS-7 last summer. The mission is to deliver 11 OG2 satellites to low-Earth orbit for Orbcomm, but SpaceX has a secondary objective to land the booster’s first stage back at Cape Canaveral minutes after launch, on […]

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SpaceX Completes Hot Fire Test, Eyes NET Sunday Night for Falcon-9 Return to Flight

By Ben Evans, on December 18th, 2015

After several delays SpaceX conducted their standard static test fire at SLC-40 this evening at Cape Canaveral AFS in Florida, paving the way for a NET Sunday launch attempt, which will mark the inaugural flight of the upgraded SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket, previously known informally as the “Full Thrust” (FT) or “v1.2”. Photo Credit: […]

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Falcon-9 Aiming for Dec. 19 RTF with Orbcomm Satellites, Booster Landing Plans Still Unclear

By Mike Killian, on December 10th, 2015

Elon Musk announced today the updated Return to Flight date for their next Falcon-9 launch, which is now scheduled for nighttime on Dec. 19 to deliver 11 satellites to orbit for Orbcomm. File Photo, Credit: Alan Walters / AmericaSpace

Six months after its 19th mission ended in pieces of falling debris offshore of […]

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SpaceX Will Return Falcon-9 to Flight with Orbcomm-2 Mission to Test Rocket's Upper Stage

By Mike Killian, on October 16th, 2015

The first Orbcomm OG-2 launch with SpaceX in July 2014, with six Orbcomm Generation-2 (OG-2) satellites onboard. SpaceX is primed to return their Falcon-9 rocket to flight with the next set of OG-2 satellites in 6-8 weeks, followed by launch of SES-9 by the end of 2015. Photo Credit: Alan Walters/AmericaSpace

Its been […]

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Enhanced Falcon 9 Booster Raises Excitement, Concern, As Return to Flight Date Nears

By Ben Evans, on September 27th, 2015

The performance enhancements which have enabled the Falcon 9 v1.2 (internally known as the Falcon 9 v1.1 Full Thrust) are expected to support larger payloads to orbit and will also permit the landing of the first-stage hardware on the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS). Photo Credit: SpaceX

Three months after the catastrophic loss […]

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