For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM JETTY PARK, FL – It was a valiant effort that came up short as the 1st attempt by new launch provider Astra to launch their 3.3 rocket on an experimental demonstration mission sponsored by NASA failed to deliver four cubesats to low Earth orbit from Florida’s Spaceport, Thursday afternoon, Feb. 10, when an anomaly took place
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – Barely one day after launching to their intended low earth orbit location on Thursday Feb. 3, a swarm of brand new SpaceX Starlink internet satellite were doomed to death when a geomagnetic storm hit Earth on Friday, Feb. 4, creating increased atmospheric particle density and drag that caused about 80% of
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM JETTY PARK, FL – A T Zero telemetry issue detected upon ignition of the first stage engines forced Astra – a new small sat mission launch provider – to scrub the 2nd attempt to launch their 1st operational rocket on an orbital flight test from Cape Canaveral on a demonstration mission with four cubesats sponsored by
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – Culminating an arduous two decade long development and million mile journey since launching on Christmas Day, the massive international James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) finally arrived at its final orbital destination at the L2 Lagrange Point on 24 Jan. 2022, sliding gently into its new home a million miles from earth –
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM JETTY PARK, FL – Astra was forced to scrub the 1st attempt to launch their 1st operational rocket on an orbital flight test from Cape Canaveral on a cubesat mission sponsored by NASA due to a failure in a critical radar hardware system operated by the U.S. Space Force in the Eastern Range that must be
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL – SpaceX launched its third Falcon 9 rocket in three days at lunch time Thursday, Feb. 3 and successfully delivered the next batch of Starlink high speed internet satellites to low Earth orbit while flying on a once rare southernly trajectory from Florida’s Spaceport – continuing a blistering launch pace opening 2022.
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, FL – Under picture perfect sunset skies SpaceX staged a spectacular Falcon 9 rocket launch carrying the Italy’s COSMO-SkyMed radar remote sensing satellite (CSG-2) mission to polar orbit for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) on the fifth try Monday evening, Jan. 31, following a trio of weather scrubs and a fourth due
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, FL – Poor weather has again postponed back-to-back SpaceX Falcon 9 launches from Florida’s Spaceport forcing another retargeting of its 4th Falcon 9 rocket of this month to Sunday evening, Jan. 30 just past sunset of the COSMO-SkyMed radar remote sensing satellite (CSG-2) mission for the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and its
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM UPDATE: Launch has scrubbed 2 more times due to poor weather and is currently targeting Sun Jan 30 at 611 PM. CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, FL – SpaceX is retargeting launch of its 4th Falcon 9 rocket of this month to Friday evening, January 28, just past sunset carrying the COSMO-SkyMed radar remote sensing satellite
For SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER/CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION, FL – A twice used Falcon Heavy side core which SpaceX has converted for use as a single stick Falcon 9 first stage core for the first time is now reassigned and set to launch an Italian Earth observing radar satellite as soon as just after sunset Friday, Jan.