Rocket Launch
Antares rocket launches cargo to space station
A multitude of NASA research investigations, crew provisions, hardware and science experiments from across the country is headed to the International Space Station aboard Orbital Sciences Corp.’s Cygnus spacecraft. The cargo craft launched aboard Orbital’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on July 13, 2014. The mission is the company’s second cargo delivery …
OCO-2 studying the atmosphere
A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) payload for NASA lifts off from California. This launch marks the 51st Delta II mission for NASA and Delta II’s return to flight. Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) will be NASA’s first dedicated Earth remote sensing satellite to study atmospheric carbon dioxide from …
NASA launches third generation communications satellite
NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite L (TDRS-L), the 12th spacecraft in the agency’s TDRS Project, is safely in orbit after launching at 9:33 p.m. EST Thursday aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Ground controllers report the satellite — part of a network providing high-data-rate …
Delta IV takes military GPS satellite into orbit
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket successfully launched the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-5 satellite for the U.S. Air Force on Feb. 20 at 8:59 p.m. EST from Space Launch Complex-37. This is ULA’s second launch in 2014 and the 79th launch since the company was formed in December 2006. “Congratulations to the entire …
NASA and JAXA launch new satellite to measure global rain and snow
The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), thundered into space at 1:37 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 27 (3:37 a.m. JST Friday, Feb. 28) from Japan. The four-ton spacecraft launched aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima Space Center on Tanegashima Island in …
Cygnus delivers to the ISS
Orbital Sciences Corporation successfully launched their Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station on Jan. 9th. With freezing cold and clear blue skies as a backdrop the company sent Cygnus skyward atop their Antares rocket, which thundered away from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport launch Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The mission, Orb-1, …
NASA’s MAVEN on way to Mars
NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) space probe thundered to space on Nov. 18 following a flawless blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 at 1:28 p.m. EST atop a powerful Atlas V 401 rocket. “Hey Guys we’re going to Mars!” gushed Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN’s Principal Investigator at a post …
India’s first Mars probe joins MAVEN in race to Red Planet
Indian space engineers initiated the 440 Newton liquid fueled engine firing precisely as planned during a critical nail-biting burn lasting some 22 minutes. The Trans Mars Insertion (TMI) firing propelled India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) away from Earth forever and placed the spacecraft on course for a rendezvous with the Red Planet on September 24, …
United Launch Alliance celebrates 75th successful launch
An Atlas V rocket carrying the Advanced Extremely High Frequency-3 (AEHF-3) satellite for the United States Air Force lifted off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida early in the morning of Sept. 18. It was United Launch Alliance’s ninth launch of an ambitious 12 mission schedule for the year. …
Launch of Expedition 37 to ISS
Expedition 37 launch – The Soyuz TMA-10M rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 26, carrying Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, NASA Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins (left, middle) and Russian Flight Engineer Sergei Ryazansky to the ISS. Their Soyuz rocket launched at 2:58 a.m. local time. This article appeared in the 3rd issue of …