Tag: Air Force Research Laboratory
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LightSail team declares success in solar sail experiment
This image was taken by a camera aboard the LightSail 2 satellite during the solar sail deployment sequence at 1849 GMT (2:49 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, July 23. Credit: The Planetary Society The gentle push of sunlight is slowly changing the orbit of the Planetary Society’s crowd-funded LightSail 2 satellite after it unfurled a thin…
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Privately-funded spacecraft now solar sailing in Earth orbit
This image was taken by a camera aboard the LightSail 2 satellite during the solar sail deployment sequence at 1848 GMT (2:48 p.m. EDT) on Tuesday, July 23, over Baja California. Credit: The Planetary Society A nanosatellite launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket last month has unfurled a solar sail membrane and is using light…
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Scorched SpaceX rocket returns to port in Florida, ready to launch a fourth time
The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket arrived at Port Canaveral on Sunday after a two-and-a-half-day journey from the rocket’s landing zone in the Atlantic Ocean. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Singed and blackened from three fiery trips to the edge of space and back, a Falcon 9 rocket returned to Cape Canaveral on…
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Photos: Falcon 9 flight marks Cape Canaveral’s first launch of 2019
The first launch from Cape Canaveral this year placed into orbit an Indonesian communications satellite, a privately-funded Israeli moon lander, and an experimental space surveillance microsatellite for the U.S. Air Force. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket fired into a starry sky over Florida’s Space Coast at 8:45 p.m. EST on Feb. 21 (0145 GMT Feb. 22)…
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Israeli moon lander hitches ride on SpaceX launch with Indonesian comsat
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket streaks into a starry sky Thursday night. Credit: SpaceX An Israeli-built moon lander aiming to become the first privately-funded mission reach another planetary body rocketed away from Cape Canaveral on Thursday night aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, riding piggyback with an Indonesian communications spacecraft and an experimental U.S. Air Force…
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Israeli moon lander prepared for launch
The completed SpaceIL Beresheet lunar lander is pictured with its solar panels attached. Credit: SpaceIL The privately-funded Israeli Beresheet lunar lander is ready for its historic mission to the moon, aiming to become the first space probe to land on another planetary body without government funding. Funded by philanthropists and donors, the Beresheet lunar lander…
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Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with Israeli moon lander, Indonesian comsat
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida with the Indonesian Nusantara Satu communications satellite, the Beresheet lunar lander for SpaceIL, and the S5 space surveillance satellite for the Air Force Research Laboratory. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. SpaceX’s…
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Falcon 9 launch set for Thursday at Cape Canaveral
The Nusantara Satu spacecraft, topped with the Beresheet lunar lander and the U.S. Air Force’s S5 space situational awareness satellite, is pictured before encapsulation inside the Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SSL SpaceX is set to end a two-month launch drought at Cape Canaveral with a blastoff Thursday night carrying a…
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Photos: A look back at last weekend’s Atlas 5 launch
The most powerful configuration of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket blasted off April 14 from Cape Canaveral, hauling multiple U.S. Air Force satellites to a perch high above the equator after piercing a clear evening sky over Florida’s Space Coast with 2.6 million pounds of thrust. The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) rocket, boosted by an RD-180…
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Watch a replay of the Atlas 5 AFSPC 11 launch
Watch a replay of the Atlas 5 rocket soaring into space on 14 April carrying multiple U.S. Air Force communications and tech demo satellites. Brilliant clear skies at Cape Canaveral made for ideal viewing conditions shortly before sunset. Video: United Launch Alliance.