CubeSats Frontpage Articles Launches NASA News Photo Galleries Planetary Science Spaceflight Top Stories Unmanned Spaceflight

“Old Reliable” Delta II Orbits First Of A Kind Soil Moisture Mapping Spacecraft

Blazing a trail through a cloudy California morning, a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket successfully deployed NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP spacecraft into polar orbit this morning on one of the venerable launch vehicle’s final missions. After delays this week due to strong high altitude winds, Delta blasted off at 6:22 a.m. PST […]

Frontpage Articles Launches NASA News Rockets Spaceflight Top Stories Unmanned Spaceflight

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 […]