Four tiny spacecraft soared over the California desert June 15, 2013 in a high-altitude demonstration flight that tested the sensor and equipment designs created by NASA engineers and student launch teams. The satellites, known as CubeSats, lifted off from the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site in the Mojave Desert aboard a Prospector 18 rocket, […]
Launches
Delta IV Returns To Flight With Successful Launch Of WGS-5 Spacecraft
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – The Delta IV EELV returned to flight today after experiencing upper state problems on its last mission. The rocket successfully launched the fifth Air Force Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-5) from Space Launch Complex-37, with liftoff occurring at 8:27 p.m. EDT and separation of WGS-5 40 minutes later. Notably, the launch took […]
Atlas V’s First GPS Launch Is A Success
Thundering into cloudless blue skies, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket successfully completed its first mission to deploy a Global Positioning System satellite for the Unuted States Air Force. Roaring off the launch pad exactly on time at 5:38 p.m. EDT, Atlas completed its mission three and a half hours later when it deployed […]
Vega’s Second Launch Successfully Deploys Proba-V Vegetation Monitoring Satellite
The second flight of ESA’s newest launch vehicle has been completed from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Two Earth observation satellites, ESA’s Proba-V and Vietnam’s VNREDSat-1A, were released into different orbits, demonstrating the rocket’s versatility. Estonia’s first satellite, the ESTCube-1 technology demonstrator, was also released into orbit.
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Breaks The Sound Barrier In First Powered Free-Flight
For the first time, Virgin Galactic’s commercial spaceplane, SpaceShipTwo, fired up its rocket engine in free-flight for 16 seconds during its latest successful drop test which also saw the craft break the sound barrier for the first time. Managed by teams from Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, the test begins the final phase of vehicle […]
Antares Roars In Successful Debut Launch
Rising up from a blast of fire and steam, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket roared off its Virignia launch pad this evening to begin successful inaugural mission. Liftoff occurred on Sunday, April 21 at 5:00 p.m. EDT from the new Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A at the NASA’s’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. It marked the […]
Atlas V Launches The Air Force SBIRS GEO-2 Spacecraft
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched the second Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) GEO-2 satellite for the U.S. Air Force at 5:21 p.m. EDT today from Space Launch Complex-41. ULA launched the first satellite in the constellation, GEO-1, aboard and Atlas V on May 7, 2011. This was the 3rd ULA launch […]
Thunderbirds Final Performance To Draw Big Crowds To Florida’s Space Coast This Weekend
This weekend Titusville, Florida will play host to the 36th annual Tico Warbird Air Show, and this year’s events may prove to be the biggest in the Valiant Air Command’s history with the United States Air Force Thunderbirds headlining the weekend’s performances. Not only that, but Tico will be the final Thunderbirds performance for the […]
Atlas Rocket To Launch Newest “Eye In The Sky” For The U.S. Air Force
All systems are “GO” for tomorrow’s scheduled launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the second Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous satellite, known as SBIRS GEO-2, for the United States Air Force. With the weather forecast to have a 70% probability of favorable conditions, liftoff is targeted to occur at the beginning […]
SpaceX Grasshopper Makes Highest Flight In Fourth Test Launch
On Thursday, March 7, 2013, SpaceX’s Grasshopper doubled its highest leap to date to rise 24 stories or 80.1 meters (262.8 feet), hovering for approximately 34 seconds and landing safely using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. Grasshopper touched down with its most accurate precision thus far on the centermost part of the launch […]