Tag: AV-074

  • NASA data relay craft successfully blossoms in space

    CAPE CANAVERAL — NASA’s new communications satellite, launched to a preliminary orbit August 18, has ascended to geosynchronous altitude more than 22,000 miles up, deployed its giant antennas and extended twin solar arrays to begin in-space commissioning. The $408 million Tracking and Data Relay satellite-M, was successfully lofted to a high-perigee geosynchronous transfer orbit by…

  • Photos: Atlas sends up new NASA satellite

    NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, a communications router for the space station and dozens of science spacecraft, blasted off from Cape Canaveral at 8:29 a.m. EDT on Friday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Credit: United Launch Alliance Credit: United Launch Alliance Credit: United Launch Alliance Credit: United Launch Alliance Credit: United…

  • Videos: Replays from successful Atlas 5 launch of TDRS-M

    Isolated camera views from various locations around Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center show the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifting off with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M. UCS 3 UCS 15 VIF roof Pad camera NASA Causeway VAB roof KSCVC observation gantry Rocketcam staging See earlier TDRS-M launch coverage.

  • Atlas 5 rocket delivers NASA data router into space for astronauts and satellites

    CAPE CANAVERAL — Bulking up NASA’s constellation of tracking stations in the sky that provides critical links between orbiting spacecraft and ground control, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully deployed a new communications hub in space today. NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite series, a program that revolutionized mission operations for U.S. human…

  • Video: TDRS-M takes flight atop Atlas 5

    The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 191 feet tall and and weighing 745,000 pounds, generates 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M. Video courtesy: NASA TV See earlier TDRS-M launch coverage.

  • Video: Atlas/TDRS-M pre-launch news briefing

    Watch the pre-launch news conference held Thursday, Aug. 17 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to preview liftoff of the agency’s TDRS-M data relay satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral. Briefing participants are: * Tim Dunn, NASA launch director * Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for Space Communications and Navigation…

  • Multimedia: Atlas 5 rolled out with TDRS-M

    The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was transferred from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Friday’s launch of NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M that directly supports the International Space Station and various science missions. Liftoff is planned for 8:03 a.m. EDT (1203 GMT). The rocket was…

  • Preview: NASA science-enabling relay satellite poised for launch

    The TDRS-M spacecraft is encapsulated in the Atlas 5’s nose cone for atmospheric ascent. Credit: NASA-KSC TV CAPE CANAVERAL — Resembling a cocooned insect with antennas and appendages tucked snuggly to its body for launch, NASA’s latest communications relay hub will be shot into space Friday to blossom in geosynchronous orbit for routing signals to…

  • Timeline: Atlas 5/TDRS-M ascent events

    This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral with NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M. Launch is scheduled for Friday at 8:03 a.m. EDT (1203 GMT). T+0:00:01.1 Liftoff With the RD-180 main engine running, the Atlas 5 vehicle lifts off and begins a vertical…

  • Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled to launch data relay satellite for NASA

    A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that will boost NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, or TDRS-M, into space arrived at Cape Canaveral on June 26 aboard the Delta Mariner cargo vessel from the production factory in Alabama. Flying in its basic two-stage configuration with no strap-on solids, the Atlas 5 was stacked aboard…