Tag: encapsulation
-
Photos: GPS 2F-12 navigation spacecraft readied for launch
This collection of photographs shows the Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-12 navigation satellite being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for flight on Friday morning. Encapsulation occurred at Cape Canaveral’s Area 59 processing facility for the GPS satellites on Jan. 19. Stacking atop the Atlas…
-
Photos: Cargo vessel enclosed in Atlas rocket nose cone
This photo gallery shows the commercial Cygnus cargo resupplier for the International Space Station on Monday at Kennedy Space Center being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing for the planned Dec. 3 liftoff. It was mated atop the rocket on Friday. The 14-foot-diameter shroud covers the Orbital ATK spacecraft during…
-
Photos: GPS 2F-11 readied for launch
This collection of photographs shows the Air Force’s Global Positioning System 2F-11 navigation satellite being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 nose cone and hoisted atop the rocket for flight on Friday. Encapsulation occurred at Cape Canaveral’s Area 59 processing facility for the GPS satellites on Oct. 16. Stacking atop the Atlas occurred…
-
Photos: NROL-55 payload joins Atlas booster rocket for launch
This photo gallery shows the classified National Reconnaissance Office payload, already encapsulated in the 14-foot-diameter nose cone, being lifted atop the United Launch Alliance Atlas-Centaur rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 3-East pad. Launch of NROL-55 is planned for the morning of Oct. 8. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance Our Atlas archive.
-
Photos: Assembling Atlas 5 rocket to launch Mexican satellite
Relive all of the steps to stack the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility for the Morelos 3 satellite deployment mission. The first stage was erected initially, followed by a pair of strap-on solid-fuel boosters, the combined interstage and Centaur upper stage, then the encapsulated satellite payload. Photos: United…
-
Photos: Navy satellite wrapped up in Atlas rocket nose cone
This photo gallery shows the U.S. Navy’s Mobile User Objective System communications satellite No. 4 being encapsulated in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing for the planned Aug. 31 liftoff. The 18-foot-diamter shroud covers the satellite during the initial minutes of flight as the 206-foot-tall rocket climbs through the atmosphere. Photos: United…
-
Photos: Next GPS satellite readied for launch
The U.S. Air Force’s ninth Global Positioning System (GPS) 2F satellite, GPS 2F-9, is encapsulated in the Delta 4 rocket’s four-meter-diameter nose cone at a processing facility and then moved to the launch pad at Complex 37 for mating to its booster inside the mobile service tower. Launch is March 25 at 2:36 p.m. EDT…
-
Photos: Shroud installed around satellite quartet, connected to Atlas 5
NASA’s four Magnetospheric Multiscale mission spacecraft were encapsulated Monday, Feb. 23 in the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket’s 45-foot-tall, 14-foot-diameter nose cone inside Building 9 at the commercial Astrotech processing campus in Titusville. In preparation for being encapsulated, team members removed over 700 protective covers from the spacecraft over the previous four days, working…
-
Photos: Navy satellite shrouded for launch
The sophisticated U.S. Navy mobile communications satellite to launch Jan. 20 has been wrapped up in the Atlas 5 rocket’s nose cone for the holidays. Encapsulation within the five-meter-diameter bulbous fairing occurred on Thursday. It is the third in a series of five Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellites built by Lockheed Martin for the…