SpaceX Successfully Launches Powerful SES-12 Communications Satellite to Geostationary Orbit

By Ben Evans, on June 4th, 2018

Boasting an flight-proven Block 4 first stage and a new Block 5 second stage, SpaceX’s Upgraded Falcon 9 roars into the night at 12:45 a.m. EDT Monday, 4 June. Photo Credit: John Studwell/AmericaSpace

After several days of weather-related delay, SpaceX’s long-running partnership with Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES bore fruit in the small hours […]

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SpaceX Prepares to Deliver Heavyweight SES-9 Satellite to Orbit on Wednesday

By Ben Evans, on February 23rd, 2016

Tomorrow’s opening launch attempt will be the Upgraded Falcon 9’s first foray toward Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). Photo Credit: 45th Space Wing

For the first time, SpaceX’s Upgraded Falcon 9 booster—which delivered 11 Orbcomm Generation-2 (OG-2) satellites into low-Earth orbit, just before Christmas—will transport its first payload from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-40 at […]

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Processing Begins in French Guiana for Mid-December Ariane 5 Mission

By Ben Evans, on October 9th, 2013

The cryotechnic main stage and its French-built Vulcain-2 engine are raised to the vertical in the Launcher Integration Building (BIL) at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. Launch of Flight VA-216 is scheduled for mid-December. Photo Credit: CNES/Arianespace

It has been a busy year for Arianespace—the French-led launch services organization, which […]

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Dazzling Proton-M Returns to Flight With Astra 2E Communications Satellite

By Ben Evans, on September 30th, 2013

Less than three months after its dismal first-stage failure, International Launch Services (ILS) and its partners have triumphantly returned the Proton-M to flight. Liftoff from Baikonur occurred at 3:38 a.m. local time Monday (5:38 p.m. EDT Sunday). Photo Credit: ILS, with additional thanks to Mike Barrett

Eighty-nine days after a Khrunichev-built Proton-M booster […]

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Soyuz Rocket Launches Four Satellites From French Guiana

By David Darling, on June 26th, 2013

Photo Credit: ESA / Corvaja

Tuesday, June 25 saw the launch of the first four satellites in a novel telecommunications network aimed at improving high-speed Internet access and mobile phone connectivity to vast numbers of people in developing parts of the world. The quartet of spacecraft, owned by the O3b company headquartered on […]

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