Tag: Launch
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Rocket Lab delivers on dedicated launch for Astro Digital
In this view from the Electron rocket’s second stage, Rocket Lab’s Curie kick stage with the Palisade satellite is seen backdropped by the Earth around 10 minutes after liftoff. Credit: Rocket Lab A technology demonstration microsatellite for Astro Digital rode a Rocket Lab Electron launcher into orbit Wednesday (U.S. time) from New Zealand, setting the…
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Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches for fifth time this year
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying the Palisade microsatellite into orbit for Astro Digital. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Rocket Lab’s live video webcast begins approximately 15 minutes prior to launch, and will be available…
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Rocket Lab preps for commercial satellite launch this week
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket underwent a wet dress rehearsal Oct. 3 on its launch pad in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab’s fifth flight of the year is set for liftoff as soon as Wednesday (U.S. time) carrying a small experimental satellite to orbit for Astro Digital, a Silicon Valley company aiming to demonstrate…
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SpaceX’s next launch to mark another incremental step in rocket reusability
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster returning to Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX next mission, slated to carry the company’s second set of Starlink broadband satellites into orbit, will be the first to fly with a reused Falcon 9 booster making its fourth launch when…
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NASA satellite to study ionosphere launches after two-year delay
Artist’s illustration of the Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite. Credit: NASA A refrigerator-sized satellite soared into orbit aboard an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket Thursday night over the Atlantic Ocean, finally setting off on a $252 million mission to probe the dynamic boundary region where space and Earth’s atmosphere meet. NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or…
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Stratolaunch under new ownership
Stratolaunch’s aircraft flew on its first — and so far only — test flight April 13 from Mojave, California. Credit: Stratolaunch Stratolaunch said Friday that the company has “transitioned ownership” a year after the death of Paul Allen, the company’s billionaire founder who funded the construction of the world’s largest airplane for an airborne satellite…
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Rockets purchased by Stratolaunch back under Northrop Grumman control
File photo of a Pegasus XL rocket inside the Building 1555 processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin Hardware for two air-dropped Pegasus XL launchers previously purchased by Stratolaunch, a space launch company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, are now back under Northrop Grumman control and for sale to…
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Timeline for Pegasus XL’s launch with NASA’s ICON satellite
Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket will take about 11 minutes to place NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, or ICON, satellite into a roughly 357-mile-high (575-kilometer) orbit after an airborne launch off Florida’s east coast. The nearly 53,000-pound (24-metric ton) rocket will drop from the belly of a modified L-1011 carrier plane, named Stargazer, flying on an…
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Live coverage: NASA’s ICON satellite successfully launched
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket with NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. NASA TV’s live video coverage of the Pegasus XL launch with the ICON satellite begins at 9:15 p.m. EDT (0115 GMT). Become a member today and support…
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Pegasus rocket ready for airborne launch with NASA scientific satellite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Oct. 9 with 24-hour launch delay. A Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket is mounted underneath an L-1011 carrier jet, which will fire the launcher into orbit as soon as Wednesday night off Florida’s east coast. Credit: NASA/ Ben Smegelsky After a year-long delay to troubleshoot recurring…