Science News

WASHINGTON Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) aborted the Falcon 9 medium-class rockets first static fire test March 9 just as the vehicles nine main-stage engines were about to ignite for a planned 3.5-second burn.

“Well look to do the next static fire attempt in three or four days,” SpaceX said.

Read the rest of this entry »

Space Exploration Technologies fired up the engines of its debut Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, a key milestone in its quest to fly cargo — and eventually astronauts — to the International Space Station.

Results of the engine test, which had been expected to last about 3.5 seconds, were not immediately available.

Read the rest of this entry »

NASA launched the newest in a series of high-tech weather satellites Thursday that will help forecasters predict sunshine and showers alike.

Once its checked out and settled into the correct orbit around Earth, GOES-P will be turned over to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which will use it alongside similar satellites to build extensive weather maps to predict meteorological conditions around the planet.

Read the rest of this entry »

NASA hauled the space shuttle Discovery out to its seaside launch pad in Florida early Wednesday to prepare for a planned April 5 blastoff.

NASA began hauling the shuttle Discovery to the seaside Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida just before midnight. The trip took more than six hours.

Read the rest of this entry »

China’s space program will launch an unmanned experimental module next year, the first component of its permanent space station, state media reported Wednesday.

Xinhua quoted Liang Xiaohong, head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, as saying Tiangong 1 would be slung into space atop a modified version of the two-stage Long March 2F rocket capable of carrying payloads of more than eight tons.

Read the rest of this entry »

A new rocket built by a California-based company to launch commercial spacecraft on cargo trips to the International Space Station for NASA is poised atop its Florida launch pad for some final tests.

The medium-lift Falcon 9 rocket is the second booster developed by the Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX, which was founded by PayPal co-founder and entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Read the rest of this entry »

The launch next week of a European satellite designed to monitor the response of icesheets to climate change has been delayed by a technical worry, the European Space Agency said on Friday.

The operation “has been delayed due to a concern related to the second stage steering engine of the Dnepr launcher,” ESA said in a press release.

Read the rest of this entry »

NASAs space shuttles are flying their final missions this year, but one commercial spaceflight company in California has a new, privately-built rocket standing ready to replace the aging workhorse.

Dragon could also eventually loft NASA astronauts into space by as early as 2014. Just dont call it a taxi service, said Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX.

Read the rest of this entry »

Cold weather in Florida has forced NASA to delay its next space shuttle launch to no earlier than April 5, even as its current shuttle mission is still under way.

The announcement came while the space shuttle Endeavour is docked at the International Space Station in the midst of a 14-day construction mission to deliver a new room and seven-window viewport to the orbiting lab.

Read the rest of this entry »

The first launch of a Russian space rocket from a site outside Moscows control has been delayed while engineers test a service tower, Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

The new vehicle will be able to carry payloads of up to 3 tonnes into orbit, nearly double the weight that can be launched from Baikonur.

Read the rest of this entry »