Tag: Launch
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Photos: Indian rocket makes rare nighttime launch
Lifting off in the predawn hours from India’s island spaceport, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle added a new navigation satellite to the country’s space-based positioning network this week. The 145-foot-tall (44-meter) PSLV lifted off at 2234 GMT (6:34 p.m. EDT) Wednesday from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on India’s east coast. Launch occurred at 4:04…
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Blue Origin’s orbital rocket in the running to receive U.S. military investment
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated April 14 with correction on West Coast launch site and BE-4 investment details. Artist’s concept of the two-stage version of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Credit: Blue Origin Blue Origin submitted a proposal late last year in what’s expected to be a four-way competition for U.S. Air Force funding to support development…
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Orbital ATK confident new rocket will win Air Force support
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated April 13. Artist’s concept of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch system in flight. Credit: Orbital ATK Orbital ATK’s bid to join the U.S. military’s roster of rockets to haul the most critical national security satellites into orbit faces stiff competition from entrenched launch providers and billionaire entrepreneurs, but the company is confident…
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Photos: PSLV poised for navigation satellite launch
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle sits on its launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center on the country’s eastern coastline, awaiting blastoff with the IRNSS 1I navigation satellite. These photos show the 145-foot-tall (44-meter) four-stage rocket, boosted by six strap-on solid rocket motors, on the First Launch Pad at the Indian spaceport in Sriharikota…
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ISRO launches for second time in two weeks
India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off at 2234 GMT (6:34 p.m. EDT; 4:04 a.m. local time) from Sriharikota Island on India’s east coast. This image shows insulation panels falling away from the rocket at liftoff, as planned. Credit: ISRO Riding a column of red-hot rocket exhaust, an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle fired into…
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SpaceX rocket test-fired at Cape Canaveral for NASA telescope launch
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, without its payload fairing or the satellite passenger, fired its nine Merlin 1D booster engines for several seconds Wednesday at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now SpaceX’s launch team loaded super-chilled liquid propellants into a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday and fired the booster’s nine first stage…
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Live coverage: India’s PSLV climbs into space with navigation satellite
Live coverage of the countdown and launch India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle with the IRNSS 1I navigation satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. ISRO’s live video stream begins at approximately 2200 GMT (6:00 p.m. EDT) and will be available on this page. If you appreciate what we do, please consider becoming a…
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Chinese Long March 4C rocket deploys four satellites in orbit
A Long March 4C rocket lifts off Tuesday with four satellites. Credit: Xinhua Three Chinese military surveillance spacecraft and an experimental nanosatellite rode a Long March 4C rocket into orbit Tuesday. The Long March 4C rocket took off at 0425 GMT (12:25 a.m. EDT; 12:25 p.m. Beijing time) from the Jiuquan space center located in…
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Investigation into Zuma failure reportedly lays blame on Northrop Grumman
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Jan. 7 from Cape Canaveral with the Zuma mission. Credit: SpaceX Government investigators have exonerated SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in the loss of a top secret space mission known as Zuma in January, blaming a malfunction in a component modified by Northrop Grumman that connected the launcher with its…
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NASA’s InSight lander inside one month to launch toward Mars
InSight’s heat shield (left) will soon be re-installed on the Mars lander (right) in preparation for launch May 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: Alex Polimeni/Spaceflight Now NASA’s InSight Mars lander will be buttoned up for launch in the coming weeks at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, in preparation for its hoisting…