Tag: Astrotech
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GPS satellite ready for installation on Falcon 9 rocket for launch next week
The third GPS 3-series navigation satellite, named “Columbus,” is seen before shipment from Lockheed Martin’s factory in Denver. Credit: Lockheed Martin The U.S. military’s next GPS navigation satellite moved to a SpaceX launch facility late Thursday at Cape Canaveral, ready for attachment with a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff June 30 to take the place…
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Next GPS satellite lands in Florida for April launch
A container with the U.S. Space Force’s third GPS 3-series navigation satellite arrived at Space Coast Regional Airport Feb. 5 aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo / Lt. Col. Maggie Sullivan The U.S. Space Force’s third new-generation GPS 3-series navigation satellite has arrived in Florida for final processing…
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Decades in the making, Solar Orbiter finally meets launcher at Cape Canaveral
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft, cocooned inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload shroud, was attached atop the Atlas 5 launcher Friday after an early morning departure from a nearby payload processing facility. Credit: United Launch Alliance The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft was installed on top of its United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launcher Friday at Cape…
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Photos: Solar Orbiter encapsulated inside launch shroud
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing Jan. 20. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky The Airbus-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft has been closed up inside the payload fairing of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in preparation for liftoff from Cape Canaveral in February on a joint mission between the European…
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Solar Orbiter arrives at Kennedy Space Center for launch preps
The Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived at the Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility shortly after 9 p.m. EDT Friday (0100 GMT Saturday) after a trans-Atlantic journey from Germany aboard an Antonov An-124 transport plane. Credit: ESA/J. Fiebrich The European-built Solar Orbiter spacecraft arrived in Florida late Friday after a trans-Atlantic journey from a test center…
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GPS satellite installed atop Delta 4 launcher
The Delta 4 rocket’s payload fairing, with the GPS satellite inside, rolls toward Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 launch pad. Credit: United Launch Alliance The U.S. Air Force’s next GPS navigation satellite met its ride into space this week with the spacecraft’s bolting on top of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket at Cape Canaveral…
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GPS satellite encapsulated for Delta 4 launch
The U.S. Air Force’s next GPS navigation satellite has been closed up inside the payload fairing of its Delta 4 launcher ahead a liftoff from Cape Canaveral scheduled for July 25. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft was encapsulated inside the Delta 4’s payload fairing last week inside an Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. The…
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Photos: Parker Solar Probe closed up inside Delta 4 fairing for launch
Ready for a journey into the sun’s enigmatic, scorching corona, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has been encapsulated inside the nose cone of its Delta 4-Heavy rocket for liftoff Saturday. These photos show the solar-powered probe’s enclosure inside the Delta 4 fairing at the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida, last month. Ground crews transported…
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Photos: Atlas 5 rocket and GOES-S weather satellite assembled for launch
Technicians around Cape Canaveral spent the last four weeks assembling a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and preparing a Lockheed Martin-built NOAA weather satellite for liftoff March 1. The photos on this page show the Atlas 5’s first stage, powered by a Russian-made RD-180 engine, being lifted atop a mobile platform inside ULA’s Vertical…
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GOES-S weather observatory hoisted atop Atlas 5 rocket
NOAA’s GOES-S weather satellite. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NOAA’s next geostationary weather satellite, GOES-S, was raised on top of an Atlas 5 launcher Friday at Cape Canaveral in preparation for liftoff March 1 to keep watch over the Pacific Ocean and the Western United States. Fully fueled for a planned 15-year mission in space, the roughly…