Tag: Launch
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Arianespace procures first batch of upgraded Vega-C rockets, preps for last Ariane 5 order
This artist’s illustration shows the lineup of European rockets currently flying or scheduled to debut in the next few years. From left to right: Vega, Vega-C, Ariane 5 ECA, Ariane 62 and Ariane 64. Credit: ESA–David Ducros, Jacky Huart, 2016 Arianespace has split its third order of Vega rockets from Italy’s Avio between old and…
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Video: NROL-42 launch aboard the Atlas 5 rocket
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 197 feet tall and and weighing 1.2 million pounds, unleashes 2.4 million pounds of thrust from its main engine and four side-mounted solid boosters at 10:49:47 p.m. local time (1:49:47 a.m. EDT; 0549:47 GMT) to launch the secret NROL-42 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from…
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Photos: Atlas 5 powers NRO payload into the night
The Atlas 5 rocket blasts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for its late-night ascent to deploy the NROL-42 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: Alex Polimeni/Spaceflight Now See earlier NROL-42 coverage.
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Signals intelligence gatherer successfully launched by powerful Atlas 5 rocket
A signals intercepter for the U.S. spy satellite agency was successfully launched into a high orbit over the top of the world by an Atlas 5 rocket on Saturday night. Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California came at 10:49:47 p.m. local time (1:49:47 a.m. EDT; 0549:47 GMT Sunday) after an eight-hour countdown. Rapidly…
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Replenishment satellite launched into Russia’s Glonass navigation fleet
A Soyuz rocket added a new satellite to Russia’s Glonass navigation network Friday with an on-target delivery nearly 12,000 miles above Earth. The fresh Glonass M spacecraft replaces a defunct satellite launched nearly 11 years ago, sustaining the Glonass system’s near-global reach for the Russian military. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off at 0002:32 GMT Friday…
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Japan’s MHI wins deal to launch satellite for Inmarsat
The Inmarsat 6 F1 satellite will launch in 2020 on an H-2A rocket fitted with four solid rocket boosters. This photo shows the H-2A “204” launcher shortly after takeoff in November 2015. Credit: MHI Inmarsat has selected Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to launch the first of two planned sixth-generation communications satellites on an H-2A rocket in…
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Photos: Minotaur 4 blasts off from Cape Canaveral
A solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket lifted off early Saturday from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. military payload designed to monitor satellite traffic in geosynchronous orbit. Flying with repurposed rocket motors from the Air Force’s retired Peacekeeper missile, the Minotaur 4 launched from pad 46 at 2:04 a.m. EDT (0604 GMT) with the ORS-5 satellite. It…
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Photos: SpaceX rocket climbs into orbit from Vandenberg
The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Aug. 24 from California delivered Taiwan’s Formosat 5 Earth-imaging satellite to orbit, and the Falcon’s first stage booster returned to landing on a drone ship downrange in the Pacific Ocean. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket lifted off at 11:51 a.m. PDT (2:51 p.m. EDT; 1851 GMT) from Space…
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U.S. military sleuth launched to track satellite and space debris movements
Credit: Orbital ATK Receiving a boost from a modified decades-old Peacekeeper missile originally built for nuclear war, a U.S. military space surveillance satellite streaked into space early Saturday from Cape Canaveral to help the Air Force track threats and debris in orbit. Running nearly three hours late after storms delayed final launch preparations, the eight-story…
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Video: Minotaur 4 launch replay
A Minotaur 4 rocket made up of five solid-fueled rocket motors delivered a U.S. military satellite tracking craft into an equatorial orbit early Saturday after lifting off from Cape Canaveral. The Minotaur 4 took off at 2:04 a.m. EDT (0604 GMT) from Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral, running nearly three hours late due to storms…