Tag: Atlas 5
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NASA’s last shuttle commander to helm test flight of Boeing crew capsule
Chris Ferguson aboard the shuttle Atlantis’ flight deck during the STS-135 mission in July 2011. Credit: NASA NASA’s last space shuttle commander — former U.S. Navy fighter pilot Chris Ferguson — will fly Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew capsule on its first piloted test mission to the International Space Station next year. Now a Boeing employee,…
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Photos: Astronauts trained in emergency procedures at Atlas 5 launch pad
Several NASA astronauts, plus Boeing test pilot Chris Ferguson, recently participated in a training session at Cape Canaveral, practicing how they would evacuate from the Atlas 5 rocket’s launch pad in the event of a countdown emergency. Strapped into patented harnesses, the astronauts rode zip lines leading from the 172-foot-level (52-meter) of the Crew Access…
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Boeing delays crew capsule test flights after abort engine problem
The upper and lower domes of the CST-100 Starliner which will carry the vehicle’s first crew into orbit were mated June 19 inside Boeing’s Commercial Crew and Cargo Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This vehicle is known as Spacecraft 2 in Boeing’s fleet. Credit: Boeing Boeing has reshuffled a sequence of…
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SpaceX’s first space-worthy Crew Dragon capsule arrives at Cape Canaveral
The Crew Dragon spacecraft slated to fly on SpaceX’s first commercial crew orbital test flight, without astronauts on-board, arrived at Cape Canaveral this week. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft, a capsule designed to eventually carry astronauts on treks to the International Space Station, has arrived at Cape Canaveral to begin preparations for launch…
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First interplanetary CubeSats already setting records in deep space
Artist’s concept of the MarCO CubeSats. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Two CubeSats developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched May 5 with the InSight mission to Mars have deployed their miniaturized antennas and captured a distant family portrait of the Earth and the moon. The twin spacecraft have already set a distance record for CubeSats, and they…
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Rocketcam replay of InSight’s launch to Mars
Video credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance has released a replay of the May 5 liftoff of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, as viewed by aft- and forward-facing cameras on the two-stage launch vehicle. The 188-foot-tall (57-meter) Atlas 5 rocket lifted off at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT;…
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Photos: Shrouded in fog, Atlas 5 takes flight from Vandenberg
A layer of fog intruding on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California kept nearby observers from seeing any sign of Saturday’s predawn launch of an Atlas 5 rocket carrying a robotic NASA probe to Mars. The only images of the Atlas 5’s fiery takeoff came from remote cameras placed at the launch pad, or from…
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After foggy departure, it’s clear sailing to Mars for InSight lander
A fog layer at Vandenberg Air Force Base prevented nearby observers from viewing the launch of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars, but viewing points farther away from the launch site had clear skies. This long exposure photo was captured at Ventura, California. Credit: William G. Hartenstein Making a fiery climb into a foggy sky Saturday…
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Photos: Mobile gantry retracted for launch of Atlas 5 rocket at Vandenberg
Towering more than 20 stories tall, the 8-million-pound mobile gantry at the Atlas 5 rocket’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, was retracted into position late Friday for liftoff of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars. The mobile service tower began moving into launch position around 11:30 p.m. PDT Friday (2:30 a.m. EDT; 0630…
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Fog and flames: Up-close photos from the Mars InSight mission’s launch pad
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — As thick fog enveloped Space Launch Complex 3 early this morning, the Mars InSight lander roared off the launch pad aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, starting its journey to the Red Planet. My three remote cameras were 300 to 400 feet away from the launch pad, and you can see…