Tag: Orbital ATK
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NASA must decide soon on Dawn mission’s next act
Artist’s concept of the Dawn spacecraft, with its ion propulsion system active, in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA managers face a July 12 deadline to decide whether to send the Dawn spacecraft on an unplanned visit to a third object in the asteroid belt or keep the probe at dwarf planet…
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Photos: SLS test booster ignited in Utah
Pushing out a brilliant plume of nearly 5,000-degree exhaust, a test booster for NASA’s Space Launch System fired in Utah for more than two minutes Tuesday to verify the upgraded space shuttle-era solid rocket motor is ready to help send astronauts into deep space. The 154-foot-long (47-meter) booster ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1405 GMT;…
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Space Launch System booster fired in final preflight qualification test
The 154-foot-long solid rocket motor ignited at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT) in Promontory, Utah. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News A solid-fueled rocket motor mounted horizontally on a Utah hillside ignited and powered up to more than 3 million pounds of thrust Tuesday in a final full-up test-firing before a similar booster helps propel NASA’s…
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Huge solid rocket booster to be test-fired Tuesday
The qualification motor for Tuesday’s Space Launch System booster test sits at Orbital ATK’s test site in Utah. Credit: Orbital ATK A 154-foot-long (47-meter) solid rocket booster will be ignited for two minutes Tuesday at a remote test site in Utah, wrapping up a series of five ground firings to prove the motor’s readiness for…
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Antares rocket’s return-to-flight slips to August
The Antares rocket’s two RD-181 engines fired on a launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, on May 31. Credit: NASA The first launch of Orbital ATK’s redesigned Antares rocket since an engine failure doomed a mission in 2014 will likely be delayed more than one month until August to complete analysis of data acquired during…
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One last task for doomed cargo ship
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION The Cygnus spaceship departed the space station June 14. Credit: NASA/Tim Kopra With one last task to carry out, a space station Cygnus cargo ship loaded with trash and no-longer-needed equipment fell back to Earth Wednesday, hitting the discernible atmosphere 60 miles or so above the Pacific Ocean…
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Re-engined Antares rocket completes ground test firing
Orbital ATK’s upgraded Antares rocket, featuring newly-built RD-181 main engines, completed a 30-second test firing on a launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore on Tuesday. The hotfire test is a key step before the Antares rocket returns to flight in July, resuming cargo service to the International Space Station from Virginia. Working from a control…
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Details of Orbital ATK’s proposed heavy launcher revealed
A fivei-segment solid rocket motor designed as a strap-on booster for NASA’s Space Launch System undergoes a test firing at Orbital ATK’s Utah plant. The company’s Next-Generation Launcher would use a derivative of the booster with composite casings and only two or four segments. Credit: NASA The launch vehicle Orbital ATK wants to face off…
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SpaceX logs successful late afternoon launch for Thaicom
The Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 5:39 p.m. EDT (2139 GMT) Friday in this view from the roof the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: SpaceX A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral and climbed into space Friday, propelling a Thai television relay satellite into orbit…
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SpaceX logs successful late afternoon launch for Thaicom
The Falcon 9 rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 5:39 p.m. EDT (2139 GMT) Friday in this view from the roof the iconic Vehicle Assembly Building. Credit: SpaceX A Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral and climbed into space Friday, propelling a Thai television relay satellite into orbit…