Tag: Northrop Grumman
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Northrop Grumman launches first Minotaur 4 rocket from Vandenberg in 14 years
A Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 8 (SLC-8) on the NROL-174 mission on April 16, 2025. Image: NRO Update 8:04 p.m. EDT: Added comments following the announcement of a successful launch. Northrop Grumman launched its first flight of a Minotaur rocket from California in nearly 14 years. Onboard the…
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Launch Roundup: Alpha postponed, Falcon 9 launches cargo to ISS
This week has seen the worldwide launch cadence slow, with only four launches taking place. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has launched just twice, with a mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office and a Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Moreover, a Minotaur rocket has launched another classified reconnaissance payload from Vandenberg, and…
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SpaceX launches mystery ‘Optus-X’ on Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying the Optus-X communications satellite. Image: Spaceflight Now Update 3:56 p.m. EST: SpaceX updated the launch time of the mission. Update 4:08 p.m. EST: SpaceX pushed back the launch time of the mission. Update 6:04 p.m. ESt: SpaceX landed…
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Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 launches customer payloads, China fly resupply mission to Tiangong
While SpaceX flew Starship on its sixth integrated test flight, the company also flew three satellites to geostationary transfer orbit this week. Koreasat 6A, Optus-X, and GSAT-20 were launched. Meanwhile, four Starlink missions also flew this week. Finally, Starship Flight 6 was moved to Tuesday, Nov. 19 and was launched successfully on that day. Starlink…
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NRO chief: “You can’t hide” from our new swarm of SpaceX-built spy satellites
The director of the National Reconnaissance Office has a message for US adversaries around the world. “You can’t hide, because we’re constantly looking,” said Chris Scolese, a longtime NASA engineer who took the helm of the US government’s spy satellite agency in 2019. The NRO is taking advantage of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite assembly line to…
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NRO chief: “You can’t hide” from our new swarm of SpaceX-built spy satellites
The director of the National Reconnaissance Office has a message for US adversaries around the world. “You can’t hide, because we’re constantly looking,” said Chris Scolese, a longtime NASA engineer who took the helm of the US government’s spy satellite agency in 2019. The NRO is taking advantage of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite assembly line to…
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Cygnus completes two-day journey to the International Space Station
The Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft, named the S.S. Francis R. “Dick” Scobee, completed installation onto the International Space Station at 5:33 a.m. EDT (0933 UTC) on Aug. 6, 2024. The NG-21 mission launched from Florida at 11:02 a.m. EDT (1502 UTC) on Aug. 4. Image: NASA Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft completed a roughly 40-hour journey…
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Science and supplies fly on Falcon 9, Cygnus NG-21
For the second time in 2024, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft delivered a bounty of science experiments and cargo to the crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The CRS NG-21 mission dodged the weather that scrubbed it on Saturday, with a Sunday lift off on a Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at…
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NASA and SpaceX launch a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to the International Space Station
A shock collar forms around SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as it ascended from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, August 4, 2024. The NG-21 mission launched a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft to begin a roughly 40-hour journey to the ISS. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now Update 9:02 p.m. EDT: The Cygnus spacecraft…
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Firefly is building fast and breaking things on path to a reusable rocket
BRIGGS, Texas—The new medium-lift rocket under development by Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman will eventually incorporate a recoverable booster that will return to its launch site in Virginia for reuse. Firefly has previously suggested rocket reuse is on the roadmap for the new rocket—known, for now, only as the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV)—but officials revealed…