Today has really been a space heavy day for me, hasn’t it? Today marks the successful launch of Soyuz MS-03, sending another 3 person crew, Oleg Novitskiy, Peggy Whitson, and Thomas Pesquet, to the International Space Station. I don’t have much commentary: not that Soyuz launches are boring (far from it) but there really isn’t […]
An Atlas V is set to launch on November 19th in a 541 configuration (5 meter payload fairing, 1 Common Core Booster, and 4 Solid Rocket Boosters) carrying the GOES-R payload for NASA and the NOAA. This satellite will be placed into a geostationary orbit around the earth to monitor the general weather conditions of the […]
This video, released a few weeks ago, is an amazing way to experience Junes NROL-37 launch, via use of full 360 degree cameras placed around the launch complex. It’s exactly as it sounds, no more, no less: multiple views of the launch, with you being able to look around much like you were there. 360 […]
As mentioned in the previous article, the Gemini Project, NASA’s 2nd manned space program, ended on November 15th, 1966. The 10 manned missions over 2 years proved that humans could do everything needed in space to make a successful flight to the Moon. All that would be left would be to prove out the Apollo […]
On November 15th, 1966, Gemini XII, the final mission of the United States Gemini program returned to Earth, marking the end of space program to prove humans could do work outside of their spacecraft, could survive in space for the possible 2 week long duration moon missions would take, and lastly to prove two spacecraft […]
After a nearly 2 month delay, the Worldview 4 satellite successfully launched today into a sun-synchronous polar orbit. Worldview 4 is an Earth Imaging satellite owned by Digital Globe, which will provide nearly double the imaging resolution currently available in non-military satellite imagery. This was a mission made up of delays, it would seem: A […]
One month shy of the launch of Sputnik 1, another R-7 missile was readied on the pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying another special payload destined for Earth orbit. This time the payload wasn’t just a simple metal sphere with a radio transmitter – instead, the payload was a dog named Laika. Laika was a stray […]
50 years ago today, on November 3rd 1966, the United States Air Force launched the 6th Titan III-C booster on a very unique test flight. Sitting atop the powerful launch vehicle was an extension made from a spare Titan I rocket oxidizer tank classified as OPS 0855, built to simulate an orbital laboratory payload, and […]
On October 27th, 1961, the first Saturn booster, SA-1 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on a 15 minute sub-orbital flight to test the booster. This first flight beget a series of 10 Saturn 1 test flights, 9 Saturn 1B flights, and 13 Saturn V flights. Saturn 1 was a […]
A few days ago China launched a crewed mission to it’s newest space station, Tiangong 2. The crew has since successfully docked and are, as far as reports indicate, having a perfectly normal mission on board the orbital laboratory. Obviously in reading this you know that they are space stations, sure, but just what are […]
What rocket launch article on Xadara would be complete without a companion article on the launch replays? In this case, as mentioned in the last article we have a beautiful day launch of the Soyuz booster and the MS-02 spacecraft. This booster didn’t launch from “Gagarin’s Start,” the normal pad that most Russian manned flights […]
Earlier today a Soyuz rocket launched the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station, carrying a fresh 3 person crew to the orbiting laboratory, bringing the ISS crew total back to 6, and the total number of people in space right now to 8: 6 on the ISS and 2 on […]
For the first time in nearly 2 years, an Antares rocket launched from the launch facilities on Wallops Island, Virginia, carrying a Cygnus cargo craft to the International Space Station. While a pretty straightforward launch of a somewhat plain seeming booster, this launch was a critical moment for Orbital ATK, creators of Cygnus and Antares, […]
Very early today, at around 7:30 in the morning Beijing time, China launched its Shenzhou 11 mission to its new Tiangong 2 space station. Tiangong 2, which was launch September 15th of 2016, can support the manned mission for around 30 days, or so reports say. Shenzhou is a spacecaft very similar to the Soviet […]
No, I still can’t get past the insanity a few weeks ago on YouTube when I brought up the fact that the SpaceX booster has a large number of engines, and that increases the chance for something to go catastrophically wrong. To recap, not only did people get mad at me over even daring to […]