Tag: Launch
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Atlas 5 rocket runs through practice countdown before Mars rover launch
Vapors stream away from a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket during a fueling test Monday on pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance The Atlas 5 rocket that will send NASA’s Perseverance rover toward Mars next month aced a countdown rehearsal Monday at Cape Canaveral, helping ensure the United…
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U.S. military to award smallsat launch contracts using COVID-19 relief funds
Astra’s first orbital-class small satellite launcher, designated “1 of 3,” is raised vertical in this photo taken at a spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska, in February. Credit: DARPA The U.S. military said this week it plans to award rideshare small satellite launch contracts to six U.S. companies using funds appropriated to help stabilize the defense…
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Photos: NASA’s Perseverance rover buttoned up for launch
The Perseverance rover is enclosed within its aeroshell for launch. Credit: NASA/Christian Mangano NASA’s Perseverance rover has been closed up inside its protective aeroshell, the structure that will protect the spacecraft when it plunges into the Martian atmosphere, in preparation for launch no earlier than July 20 from Cape Canaveral. The six-wheeled Mars rover was…
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Fitted with super-clean sample tubes, NASA’s next Mars rover nears launch date
Technicians installed sample collection tubes into NASA’s Perseverance rover May 21 before launch to Mars in July. Credit: NASA/JPL The Perseverance rover’s sterilized sample tubes — designed to seal Martian rock and sediment for eventual return to Earth — are installed on the spacecraft as teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center prepare to enclose the…
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Last Beidou satellite launch postponed by rocket trouble
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated June 16 after launch delay. A Long March 3B rocket stands on its launch pad at the Xichang space base in southwestern China. Credit: CGTN Ground crews at the Xichang launch center in China postponed the launch of a Long March 3B rocket into orbit Tuesday that was to complete the deployment of…
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Starlink satellite deployments continue with successful Falcon 9 launch
A Falcon 9 rocket streaked into space just before sunrise Saturday from Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX Breaking a SpaceX record for the shortest span between two missions from the same launch pad, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Saturday from Cape Canaveral carrying 58 more Starlink broadband satellites and three Earth-imaging spacecraft for Planet. The…
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Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on first Starlink rideshare mission
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The mission will launch SpaceX’s ninth batch of Starlink broadband satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter [tabby title=”SpaceX webcast”] [tabby title=”SpaceX mission audio”] [tabbyending]
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Hitching a ride with SpaceX, Planet poised to complete SkySat fleet
Three of Planet’s SkySat Earth-imaging satellites are mounted on top of 58 SpaceX Starlink Internet satellites for launch Saturday. Credit: Planet / SpaceX Three of Planet’s SkySat Earth-imaging satellites are mounted on top of 58 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites for launch Saturday from Cape Canaveral on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, the first…
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China launches ocean monitoring satellite
A Long March 2C rocket lifts off with the Haiyang 1D oceanography satellite. Credit: Xinhua A civilian-operated Chinese oceanography satellite deployed in orbit after lifting off on a Long March 2C rocket Wednesday, joining a predecessor launched in 2018 to monitor ocean color and water temperatures. Chinese engineers also debuted modifications to the Long March…
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NASA signs Gateway habitat design contract with Northrop Grumman
Artist’s illustration of the Gateway’s PPE and HALO modules in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA NASA has signed a $187 million contract with Northrop Grumman to complete the preliminary design of a pressurized crew habitat for the planned Gateway mini-space station near the moon, and agency officials have discussed new details about plans to launch first…