Thursday, November 21

SpaceX

SpaceX

NASA, Boeing and ULA announce June 1 as new target date for Starliner’s Crew Flight Test – Spaceflight Now

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was fueled for launch May 6, 2024 for the Starliner Crew Test Flight. Image: NASA TV NASA is looking at the start of June for its next attempt to launch its astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, on board Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The announcement came last Wednesday night in a blog post, stating that June 1 will be the earliest that the Crew Flight Test of Starliner can begin. The new launch date has a T-0 liftoff of 12:25 p.m. EDT (1625 UTC). There are also backup opportunities available on Sunday, June 2; Wednesday, June 5; and Thursday, June 6. The May 6 launch date was originally scrubbed about two hours prior to launch due to an issue with an oxygen pressure release valve on the upper stage of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket....
SpaceX to launch first batch of satellites for the NRO’s reconnaissance satellite constellation – Spaceflight Now
SpaceX

SpaceX to launch first batch of satellites for the NRO’s reconnaissance satellite constellation – Spaceflight Now

An illustration of the NROL-146 mission patch design. Graphic: NRO The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is set to start building a constellation of unknown size with a middle-of-the-night launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission, dubbed NROL-146, features an undisclosed number of satellites riding onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) is set for the start of a launch window that opens 1 a.m. PDT (4 a.m. EDT, 0800 UTC). Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff. The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1071 in the SpaceX fleet, will launching for a 16th time. It’s first two flights were for NRO missions and it also launched a pair of Transporte...