Tag: Atlas V
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ULA conducts NROL-107 launch, last Atlas NRO mission
United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched its Atlas V with the classified NROL-107 Silent Barker mission set on Sunday, following several days, including a rollback due to a hurricane threat. For this demanding mission, sending the payload to a near-geosynchronous orbit, Atlas V flew in its most powerful active configuration: Atlas V 551. NROL-107 Silent Barker…
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Rocket Report: Japan launches Moon mission; Ariane 6 fires up in Kourou
Welcome to Edition 6.10 of the Rocket Report! A Japanese spacecraft has joined the international flock of missions traveling to the Moon this year, but you’ll need to practice patience on this one. It will take about four months for Japan’s small lander to get into lunar orbit, then more weeks to align with the…
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US spy satellite agency isn’t so silent about new “Silent Barker” mission
9:50 am EDT Tuesday update: The Atlas V rocket has returned to its hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to take shelter from Hurricane Idalia, which is forecast to strike the Florida Gulf Coast this week. This rollback of the rocket likely pushes the launch until no earlier than some time Labor Day weekend. 8:45…
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US spy satellite agency isn’t so silent about new “Silent Barker” mission
9:50 am EDT Tuesday update: The Atlas V rocket has returned to its hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to take shelter from Hurricane Idalia, which is forecast to strike the Florida Gulf Coast this week. This rollback of the rocket likely pushes the launch until no earlier than some time Labor Day weekend. 8:45…
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Amazon shifts launch of its first Internet satellites to Atlas V rocket
Amazon has confirmed it now plans to launch the first two test satellites for the company’s Kuiper broadband network on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket as soon as next month, shifting the payloads off of the inaugural flight of ULA’s new Vulcan rocket. The shift has been rumored for several weeks after ULA…
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Atlas rocket bids farewell to California as ULA readies for Vulcan
The Atlas rocket family, a staple of the US launch industry since June 11, 1957, ended its West Coast operations on Nov. 10 with the launch of an Atlas V rocket with the JPSS-2 weather satellite. Liftoff of the mission from Space Launch Complex-3 East (SLC-3E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, is scheduled for…
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Final Atlas V 531 launches dual SES-20 and SES-21 satellites
United Launch Alliance (ULA) has launched the dual-manifested SES-20 & 21 telecommunication satellites on the final Atlas V 531 rocket to a near-circular geosynchronous orbit (GSO). The Atlas V launched from Space Launch Complex-41 (SLC-41) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) on Oct. 4 at the opening of the window at 5:36 PM…
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Florida spaceports brace for Hurricane Ian
The Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station are bracing for the arrival and effects of Hurricane Ian, a major tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Mexico that made landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida at 3:05 PM EDT (19:05 UTC) on Wednesday, Sept. 28 with maximum sustained winds at 241 km/h (150 mph). Updates…
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ULA’s Atlas V launches final SBIRS GEO missile detection satellite
United Launch Alliance was in action Thursday, using an Atlas V rocket to deploy a missile detection satellite for the US Space Force. Liftoff of the SBIRS GEO 6 mission from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is occurred at the opening of a 40-minute window at 6:29 AM EDT (10:29 UTC). The Space-Based Infrared…
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Atlas V launches two experimental military satellites on USSF-12 mission
United Launch Alliance has deployed a pair of Space Force technology demonstration payloads into geostationary orbit Friday evening. The USSF-12 mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:15 PM EDT (23:15 UTC) on Friday, following a 24 hour delay from Thursday due to weather as well as additional weather delays early in the Friday window.…