When SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket from Cape Canaveral carrying the first OG-2 mission for Orbcomm, a P3 Orion aircraft was waiting downrange over the Atlantic Ocean to capture the powered descent and attempted soft-landing of the rocket’s first stage in the water. After the booster separated from the second stage, it re-lit […]
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On Its Way To A Fiery Re-Entry, Orbital’s Cygnus Departs ISS
Orbital Sciences Cygnus commercial cargo craft completed a month-long delivery mission to the International Space Station Friday when it was released from the grips of the Canadarm2 robotic arm at 6:40 a.m. EDT. Cygnus is now orbiting on its own, separating from the station and heading for a deorbit and a fiery entry over the […]
Atlas Rocket Orbits WorldView-3 Commercial Imaging Satellite
Continuing a very successful year for United Launch Alliance, an Atlas V rocket thundered into space this morning on a mission to successfully deploy the WorldView-3 satellite for commercial space imaging provider DigitalGlobe. Blasting off on time at 11:30 a.m PDT from Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg AFB in California, WorldView-3 was placed into […]
ULA Names Tory Bruno President And CEO; Michael Gass Retires
United Launch Alliance named veteran aerospace industry executive Tory Bruno as its next president and chief executive officer, succeeding Michael Gass, who has served as president and CEO since ULA’s founding in 2006. Bruno’s appointment is effective immediately; he and Gass will work collaboratively to ensure a smooth leadership transition and continued commitment to mission […]
NASA Releases High-Definition Onboard Video From LDSD “Flying Saucer” Test
NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project successfully flew a rocket-powered, saucer-shaped test vehicle into near-space in late June from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The goal of this experimental flight test, the first of three planned for the project, was to determine if the balloon-launched, rocket-powered, saucer-shaped, design could reach […]
NASA To Create First 3D-Printed Space Cameras
By the end of September, NASA aerospace engineer Jason Budinoff is expected to complete the first imaging telescopes ever assembled almost exclusively from 3-D-manufactured components. “As far as I know, we are the first to attempt to build an entire instrument with 3-D printing,” said Budinoff, who works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in […]
Delta IV Dodges Weather To Launch GSSAT Spacecraft On Fifth Try
After nearly a week of frustrating technical and then weather delays, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket finally got off the ground today and successfully deployed the Air Forces AFSPC-4 mission to geosynchronous orbit. Once again waiting out the typically fickle summertime Florida weather, the launch vehicle thundered off the pad at Space Launch […]
Delta II Returns To Service To Launch NASA’s First Carbon Monitoring Spacecraft
Following a one-day delay to fix a balky water valve on its launch pad, the Delta II launch vehicle returned to service early Wednesday morning with a fiery nighttime ascent from California on a mission to deploy NASA’s first spacecraft dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) will join a […]
Success For NASA’s Experimental Supersonic “Flying Saucer”
NASA officials are calling today’s near-space test flight of the agency’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) a success despite the fact that an experimental supersonic parachute failed to deploy during the test, which occurred off the coast of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The June 28 test was the first of […]
Projects Selected For NASA’s 2015 X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge
NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation have selected five universities to design systems, concepts and technologies to enhance capabilities for deep space missions for the 2015 Exploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge. The selections are the first milestone in a yearlong design and development effort for these five projects. Throughout the 2014-2015 academic year, […]