KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – For the fourth and hopefully final time NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket integrated with the Orion crew spacecraft for the Artemis I mission rolled out to launch pad 39B from the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida starting just before midnight Friday, Nov. 4, ahead of the next
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – A SpaceX Falcon Heavy blasted off on its very first National Security Space Launch (NSSL) while carrying a clandestine payload suite for the United States Space Force directly into a high-altitude geosynchronous orbit that appropriately was shrouded in thick morning fog enveloping the rocket making it virtually invisible to most spectators
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM TITUSVILLE/PLAYALINDA BEACH, FL – SpaceX conducted a successful nighttime static fire test of their brand new triple stick Falcon Heavy rocket standing vertical and minus the nose cone on the launch pad, Thursday evening, Oct. 27, rumbling across the Space Coast and paving the path towards the first launch of the mammoth vehicle in over three
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA is targeting Monday Nov. 14 as the date for the next launch attempt of the Artemis I mission with a nighttime liftoff of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft on a test flight around the Moon and back. The just past midnight nighttime launch window for
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM TITUSVILLE, FL – Finally at the very end of a nearly two-hour-long window, SpaceX successfully launched a commercial European TV broadcasting satellite on a recycled Falcon 9 booster just past midnight Saturday morning, Oct. 15, after the liftoff was delayed due to a need to verify technical parameters with the booster. Originally SpaceX was targeting liftoff
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – A brand new SpaceX Falcon 9 booster successfully launched an international foursome of U .S., Russian and Japanese astronauts and cosmonauts including three rookies and a lone veteran on the history making Crew-5 mission at 12 noon EDT (1600 GMT), Wednesday, Oct. 5, from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA successfully completed the critical cryogenic tanking test for the Artemis 1 Moon rocket on Wednesday, Sept. 21, after teams encountered another significant hydrogen leak near the start of the loading process engineers and then effectively resolved them in a timely manner at Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM TITUSVILLE, FL – Following five consecutive weather scrubs since Tuesday, Sept. 13, the heavens miraculously cleared just enough despite another poor forecast and SpaceX at last launched a veteran Falcon 9 rocket on the sixth try just past sunset Sunday evening, Sept. 18, on a mission carrying another batch of Starlink internet satellites to low Earth
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – NASA says technicians have completed repairs to the leaking hydrogen fuel line on the mammoth Artemis 1 Moon rocket out at launch pad 39B which in turn will allow the team to move forward and carry out a full tanking demonstration test of super cold cryogenics to verify whether the dangerous
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CANAVERAL NATIONAL SEASHORE/KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – For a brief day in early September a darling rocket duo were standing simultaneously vertical at the sister pads Launch Pads 39B and 39A at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida – namely NASA’s Artemis 1 maiden SLS/Orion Mega Moon rocket and SpaceX’s record-breaking recycled Falcon 9 rocket