Exploring The Frontier Of Space
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket successfully launched the seventh Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force at 8:07 p.m. EDT today from Space Launch Complex-37. This is ULA’s seventh launch in 2015 and the second successful ULA launch in just eight days. Today marks ULA’s 98th successful one-at-a-time […]
The newest member of the the Air Force’s worldwide Global Position System satellite constellation successfully blasted off on July 16 from Cape Canaveral. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off at 11:36 am EDT from Space Launch Complex 41 carrying the GPS IIF-10 on the sixth mission for ULA this year. Up Close […]
Sunday’s loss of the 19th Falcon 9 rocket on its seventh mission to deliver cargo to the International Space Station has left SpaceX searching for answers and facing a potentially months-long grounding of its flagship launch vehicle. Complicating matters for the ISS program, the loss of the Dragon CRS-7 spacecraft follows on the heels of […]
Two tons of supplies and research cargo are headed to the International Space Station today following the successful launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral. After a one-day delay due to strong high-altitude winds, the rocket lifted off on time at 4:10:11 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 carrying Dragon on […]
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 […]
NASA and ATK have completed installing the first Space Launch System booster qualification motor, QM-1, in a specialized test stand in Utah. The largest solid rocket motor ever built for flight, QM-1 is now being prepared for its static-fire test, which is scheduled for March 11. “Testing before flight is critical to ensure reliability and […]
Marking the 200th launch for the venerable Atlas-Centaur family of rockets and 52nd Atlas V, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V thundered off the launch pad Tuesday night to deploy the third Mobile User Objective System for the United States Navy. MUOS-3 joins two existing satellites in geosynchronous orbit providing secure, reliable high-speed communications to […]
January 20, 2015 – Five rockets are on the pad and waiting to go from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The weather and/or science conditions have not been conducive for launch to support the Mesosphere-Lower Thermosphere Turbulence Experiment (MTeX), Mesospheric Inversion-layer Stratified Turbulence (MIST) mission and the Auroral Spatial Structures Probe (ASSP). The […]
Read the story with a full page of launch pad remote camera photos and video! Last month, Zero-G News had the opportunity to travel to Wallops Flight Facility, VA in order to cover the anticipated launch of an Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket to deliver the Cygnus Orb-3 spacecraft on a cargo resupply run to […]
NASA and ATK successfully completed a static test of the launch abort motor igniter for the Orion crew capsule’s Launch Abort System (LAS). Conducted at ATK’s facility in Promontory, Utah, this test is the next step toward qualifying the igniter for production. ATK’s launch abort motor igniter for the Orion crew capsule’s Launch Abort System […]