Tag: Launch
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Delta 4 rocket’s launch timeline with WGS 10
A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deliver the U.S. Air Force’s tenth Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite to a supersynchronous transfer orbit around 37 minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral. Liftoff is scheduled during a launch window opening at 6:56 p.m. EDT (2256 GMT) Friday. The window extends to 9:05 p.m. EDT…
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Air Force sees upcoming Falcon Heavy launches as key to certifying reused rockets
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated March 15 with target launch date. SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket climbs into the sky from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX is gearing up for the first commercial launch of its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket as soon as early April with a communications satellite…
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ULA plans to ring in the weekend with Friday evening launch
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) on March 14 with new weather forecast. The Delta 4 rocket’s payload fairing, containing the U.S. Air Force’s WGS 10 communications satellites, is readied for mounting atop the launcher Feb. 26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance ground…
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Facing more delays, NASA opens door to launching lunar mission with commercial rockets
Artist’s illustration of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and its European-built service module, powered toward the moon by an upper stage engine. Credit: NASA In a major shift, NASA is considering using two commercial launchers to send an unpiloted Orion crew capsule and its European-built service module on a test flight around the moon next year, maintaining…
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Chinese TV broadcasting satellite launched on 300th Long March rocket
A Chinese television broadcasting satellite lifted off Saturday aboard a Long March 3B booster, the 300th orbital launch by the country’s Long March rocket family since 1970. The Long March 3B rocket climbed away from the Xichang space center at 1628 GMT (11:28 a.m. EST) Saturday, and headed east from the inland spaceport located…
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SpaceX, ULA win military contracts, Air Force renames EELV program
File photo of an Atlas 5-421 rocket on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance and SpaceX recently won contracts worth $739 million to send six missions into orbit for the U.S. military, and the Air Force has announced a new title for its flagship launcher program, dropping “expendable”…
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OneWeb announced as customer for inaugural Ariane 6 launch
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated March 7 to correct OneWeb Satellites factory details. Artist’s illustration of an Ariane 6 rocket launching a constellation of small satellites. Credit: ArianeGroup Arianespace has announced OneWeb, the broadband Internet provider seeking to deploy more than 600 satellites into low Earth orbit, as the launch customer for the inaugural flight of the new Ariane…
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Military satellite joined with Delta 4 rocket at Cape Canaveral
Artist’s illustration of a Wideband Global SATCOM satellite in orbit. Credit: Boeing The addition of a U.S. Air Force communications satellite has capped the assembly of a 218-foot-tall (66-meter) United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket at Cape Canaveral set for liftoff the evening of March 13. The Air Force’s 10th Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite…
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Video: First OneWeb satellites deployed in orbit
A camera mounted on-board the upper stage of a Soyuz rocket launched Wednesday from South America captured dazzling views of the first six OneWeb broadband satellites separating from their carrier module more than 600 miles (about 1,000 kilometers) above Earth. The video released by Arianespace shows the six 325-pound (147.7-kilogram) spacecraft, each about the size…
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Photos: Soyuz lifts off on first OneWeb mission
A Soyuz booster vaulted into a sunset sky over French Guiana on Wednesday evening, arcing north from the jungle spaceport in South America with six satellites to inaugurate OneWeb’s global broadband network. The Soyuz ST-B rocket, fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen, lifted off from the Guiana Space Center at 6:37 p.m. local time Wednesday…