Tag: Orbital ATK
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Iridium swaps two new Falcon 9 rockets for “flight-proven” boosters
A Falcon 9 first stage lands on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean in June following a liftoff with Iridium satellites. Credit: SpaceX Citing schedule concerns over price benefits, Iridium announced Thursday it will launch its next 20 satellites on a pair of previously-flown Falcon 9 boosters from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,…
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NASA’s Dawn mission gears up for close look at Ceres
This artist concept shows NASA’s Dawn spacecraft above dwarf planet Ceres, as seen in images from the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA NASA’s Dawn spacecraft will remain at Ceres for the rest of its mission, heading closer to the asteroid belt’s largest resident than ever before to obtain new measurements of ice, salts and a tenuous intermittent…
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Scientists celebrate 10th anniversary of Dawn mission’s launch
Artist’s concept of the Dawn spacecraft with imagery of Ceres (left) and Vesta (right) captured during the mission. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In the ten years since its launch from Cape Canaveral, NASA’s Dawn spacecraft has orbited the two largest worlds in the asteroid belt and overcome defective components that threatened to derail the mission on its…
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Northrop Grumman to purchase Orbital ATK for $9.2 billion
An Orbital ATK Antares rocket readies for launch to the International Space Station in this October 2016 file photo. Credit: Orbital ATK Northrop Grumman announced Monday plans to acquire Orbital ATK, a company with a portfolio ranging from satellite manufacturing and orbital servicing to launch vehicles, missile defense and munitions, for approximately $9.2 billion, a…
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Station managers push back next Cygnus cargo flight to November
A photo of the Antares rocket’s twin RD-181 engines installed on the rocket slated to launch Orbital ATK’s next Cygnus supply ship to the International Space Station. Credit: Orbital ATK NASA and Orbital ATK have agreed to schedule the launch of the next Cygnus supply ship for Nov. 10 from Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern…
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Build-up begins for first Minotaur rocket launch from Cape Canaveral
File photo of a Minotaur 4 rocket before a launch from Kodiak Island, Alaska. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Ground crews at a long-dormant launch pad at Cape Canaveral are stacking surplus military missile motors for the Aug. 25 launch of a Minotaur 4 rocket with a satellite designed to track orbital traffic thousands of miles…
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Photos: Iridium satellites prepped for Falcon 9 flight
The second set of Iridium’s next-generation satellites to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket were prepared for liftoff inside a climate-controlled clean room at Vandenberg Air Force Base over the last few weeks. The 10 Iridium satellites were trucked from their factory near Phoenix two-at-a-time to Vandenberg in May and early June, then bolted…
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Video: Rocketcam replay of Iridium satellite deployment
Watch a replay of one of Iridium’s 10 communications satellites launched Sunday deploys from a dispenser mounted on the forward end of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 upper stage. All 10 voice and data relay satellites separated from the launcher about one hour after liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Email the author. Follow Stephen…
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Launch of military’s new space-based satellite tracker delayed to August
Updated June 22. File photo of a Minotaur 4 rocket on a launch pad in Alaska before a launch in September 2011. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now The launch from Cape Canaveral of a small U.S. military satellite built to track objects in geosynchronous orbit has been delayed from mid-July until at least late August, an…
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SpaceX rocket passes key preflight test before liftoff from California
The 10 Iridium Next communications satellites slated to launch Sunday from California were recently encapsulated inside the Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing. Credit: Iridium Juggling simultaneous launch campaigns on both coasts, a team of SpaceX engineers put a Falcon 9 rocket through a customary countdown rehearsal and hold-down firing Tuesday at Vandenberg Air Force Base…