Chinese Long March 3B Launches APStar-6C Communications Satellite
China was back in action on Thursday, conducting a rare commercial launch of a Long March 3B rocket with the APStar-6C communications satellite for APT Satellite Holdings
Read more
Launch
Chinese Long March 11 Launches Five Video & Hyperspectral Satellites for Zhuhai Constellation
A Chinese, all-solid-fueled Long March 11 rocket packed with five Earth-imaging satellites lifted off from the country’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 4:42 UTC on Thursday
Read more
Sentinel-3B Land & Ocean-Sensing Satellite Delivered to Orbit by Russian Rockot Booster
Europe’s Copernicus Earth Observation Constellation welcomed its seventh member on Wednesday after the Sentinel-3B ocean- and land-sensing satellite received a smooth ride to orbit atop a Russian ballistic-missile-turned-space-launcher.
Read more
Falcon 9 Lifts TESS Exoplanet Hunter to Survey Earth’s Cosmic Neighborhood for Habitable Worlds
NASA’s search for Earth-like planets around other stars took one major step forward Wednesday night when the agency’s TESS exoplanet hunter received a smooth ride into a high-energy transfer orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9
Read more
Russia’s 2nd Blagovest Military Communications Satellite Blasts off on First Proton of 2018
The thunder of Russia’s Proton rocket returned to the Baikonur Cosmodrome Wednesday night for the first time in seven months when the former workhorse of the Russian space program soared into the pre-dawn skies over the Kazakh launch site on a military mission.
Read more
Muscly Atlas V Rumbles off from Florida on Direct Geostationary Delivery with CBAS & EAGLE
The most powerful version of ULA’s Atlas V rocket – sporting five Solid Rocket Boosters for maximum thrust off the pad – soared into sunset on Saturday after blasting off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral with a pair of U.S. Air Force Satellites.
Read more
Impressive PSLV Night Launch Sends Replacement Craft for India’s Navigation Constellation to Orbit
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully sent the IRNSS-1I navigation satellite into orbit on Wednesday after an impressive nighttime liftoff from the country’s Satish Dhawan Space Center.
Read more
Chinese Surprise Launch Lifts Yaogan-31 Electronic Reconnaissance Satellite Trio
China pulled off a completely secretive space launch on Tuesday, firing into orbit a trio of naval reconnaissance satellites and a small technology test satellite via a Long March 4C rocket.
Read more
Ariane 5 Blasts Off at Sunset on Heavy-Haul with Japanese & U.S.-Built Communications Satellite Pair
Loaded with a payload mass of over ten metric tons, Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket pierced into the twilight haze over French Guiana on Thursday on a flight to redeem itself after a nail-biting mission in January that saw the rocket take a wrong turn and lift its passengers into an erroneous orbit.
Read more
Science-Laden Dragon Lifted to Orbit by 5th Expendable Falcon 9 in a Row
Still covered in soot from a previous supply run to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Falcon 9 took to the skies over Florida’s Cape Canaveral Monday afternoon – lifting a flight-proven Dragon spacecraft into orbit for a critical delivery of science gear, supplies and maintenance hardware to the orbiting laboratory as the first of at least six cargo ships inbound to the U.S. Segment of ISS this year.
Read more
Tenth Chinese Launch of 2018 Lifts Three Gaofen-1 Earth-Imaging Satellites
China carried out its tenth successful space launch of the year on Saturday, employing a Long March 4C rocket with extra-extended payload fairing to transport a stack of three Gaofen-1 Earth-observation satellites into Sun Synchronous Orbit.
Read more
Falcon 9 Dispatches 5th Iridium-NEXT Group to Orbit after Morning Launch from California
A flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 – the eighth of its kind to take flight – leapt of its Pacific-side launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base at sunrise on Friday to loft the fifth set of Iridium-NEXT communications satellites into orbit and take the largest constellation upgrade in history one step closer to the finish line.
Read more
Long March 3B Thunders off from China with Beidou Navigation Satellite Pair
China launched a Long March 3B rocket on Thursday, carrying the next pair of Beidou-3 navigation satellites to join the country’s growing Global Navigation Satellite System set to reach operational strength later this year.
Read more
Rare Soyuz 2-1v Rocket Launch Lifts Clandestine EMKA “Experimental Small Satellite”
Russia conducted a secretive launch out of the country’s primary military spaceport on Thursday, involving what is officially only known as a Small Experimental Satellite going by the acronym EMKA and suspected to be a former remote-sensing satellite design turned into a black project by the Russian Ministry of Defence.
Read more
GSLV Rocket Soars to 5th Success in a Row with Upgraded Vikas Engine & new Shutdown Technique
India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle powered away from the country’s Eastern Shore on Thursday, successfully placing the GSAT-6A advanced S-Band communications satellite into orbit and introducing an upgraded engine as the first of a number of improvements coming up on India’s rockets in the coming years.
Read more
Nighttime Soyuz Launch Sends All-Veteran Crew Trio into Orbit for 160-Day Space Station Mission
A veteran Russian Cosmonaut and two NASA Astronauts with prior Space Shuttle experience blasted off from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome Wednesday night on a planned 160-day space flight to the International Space Station.
Read more
China Adds Fourth LKW Constellation Member via Successful Long March 2D Launch
China was back in action on Saturday with the country’s eighth orbital space launch of the year, deploying the fourth satellite in the LKW “Land Survey Constellation.”
Read more