NASA | Range Tracking

DM-2 Booster Return to Port Canaveral

2020/06/06 by terranovabay

The SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster used to launch the DM-2 mission carrying Crew Dragon with two NASA astronauts onboard to the International Space Staton returned to Port Canaveral on 2 June 2020 three days after its historic launch. The booster landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship about eight minutes after launch. Click to view more photos of the DM-2 booster return to Port Canaveral.

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Crew Dragon, droneship, Falcon 9, International Space Station, ISS, NASA, Of Course I Still Love You, Port Canaveral, SpaceX

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DM-2

2020/05/30 by terranovabay

I missed the historic return of crewed spaceflight to the United States achieved by NASA and SpaceX with the DM-2 mission carrying two astronauts to the International Space Station. Deterred by the bad weather forecast and a bit of laziness brought on by the weekend, I decided to stay close to home in the chance of the launch being postponed but leaving open the option of getting some long distance shots. Sadly, neither came to pass as the rocket lifted […]

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Crew Dragon, DM-2, International Space Station, NASA, SpaceX

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CRS-20

2020/03/07 by terranovabay

SpaceX launched its twentieth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-20) to the International Space Station (ISS) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 11:50 p.m. on 6 March 2020. This time exposure shows the rocket launch at left and the first stage’s entry burn, upper right, and landing at Landing Zone-1. Click for more information and the CRS-20 photo gallery.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, CRS-20, Dragon, Exploration Tower, Falcon 9, International Space Station, ISS, Landing Zone 1, LZ-1, NASA, Port Canaveral, SLC 40, Space Launch Complex 40, SpaceX

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CST-100 Starliner Orbital Flight Test

2019/12/21 by terranovabay

The predawn sky is lit by the fiery passage of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launching Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft into orbit on its Orbital Flight Test mission at 6:36 a.m. on 20 December 2019 from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Once fully checked out there will astronauts aboard riding this rocket into space journeying to the International Space Station. Shortly after launch Starliner suffered a problem with its Mission Elapsed Timer that […]

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Atlas V, Boeing, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Commercial Crew Program, CST-100, International Space Station, ISS, NASA, Orbital Test Flight, Starliner, ULA, United Launch Alliance

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CRS-19

2019/12/08 by terranovabay

SpaceX launched its nineteenth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-19) for NASA to the International Space Station on 5 December 2019 at 12:29 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Click to view the launch gallery and to see a video of birds disturbed by the launch.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, CRS-19, Falcon 9, International Space Station, NASA, SpaceX

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Retired but not forgotten

2019/11/04 by terranovabay

A view from inside Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building looking out the open doors of High Bay #4. Discovery sits in silhouette while beyond, under Discovery’s wing at right, can be seen Atlantis waiting to enter the Orbiter Processing Facility in March 2012. Click to relive the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program.

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Atlantis, Discovery, Endeavour, Kennedy Space Center, NASA, Space Shuttle

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ICON

2019/10/14 by terranovabay

Photographing the launch of the Pegasus XL rocket carrying the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) from its Stargazer L-1011 aircraft flying over the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Cape Canaveral was always going to be challenging but the partly-cloudy skies really did it in. Click to view what was expected and what happened.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, ICON, Ionospheric Connection Explorer, L-1011, NASA, Northrop Grumman, Pegasus, Stargazer

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CRS-18

2019/07/28 by terranovabay

Check out the selected photos from the launch and booster landing of the CRS-18 resupply mission to the International Space Station on 25 July 2019. Click to view gallery.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, CRS-18, Dragon, Falcon 9, International Space Station, ISS, NASA, SpaceX

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CRS-18 Weather Delay

2019/07/25 by terranovabay

Chances were slim the massive front of disturbed weather filled with rainstorms and lightning trekking across Florida would clear out of the area in time for the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sending a Dragon spacecraft filled with supplies to the International Space Station on 24 July 2019. As expected, the bad weather forced the rocket to remain on the ground at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pending its next launch attempt on 25 […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, CRS-18, Dragon, Falcon 9, International Space Station, ISS, NASA, SpaceX

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Apollo 11 Airstream Quarantine

2019/07/24 by terranovabay

NASA decided to quarantine the Apollo 11 astronauts and their lunar samples immediately upon opening the spacecraft hatch after splashdown on 24 July 1969 to guard against the remote possibility of the Apollo astronauts returning from the Moon infected with extraterrestrial diseases. The reverse was also true. Scientists wanted the lunar samples quarantined against any chance of contamination by terrestrial organisms to keep the lunar samples as pure as possible for study. According to NASA, “The MQF [Mobile Quarantine Facility] […]

Categories: Space Age Bulletins • Tags: Airstream, Apollo 11, Houston, Mobile Quarantine Facility, Moon, MQF, NASA, National Air and Space Museum, Richard Nixon, Udvar-Hazy Center

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Range Tracking

Photography by Bob Montanaro

Tag: NASA

DM-2 Booster Return to Port Canaveral

DM-2

CRS-20

CST-100 Starliner Orbital Flight Test

CRS-19

Retired but not forgotten

ICON

CRS-18

CRS-18 Weather Delay

Apollo 11 Airstream Quarantine