Tag: Goddard Space Flight Center
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Live coverage: Final Delta 2 rocket launches from California
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket with NASA’s ICESat 2 satellite to measure global ice sheets. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. NASA TV’s live broadcast of the Delta 2 launch begins at 5:10 a.m. PDT (8:10 a.m. EDT; 1210 GMT).
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Engineers say goodbye to society-changing Delta 2 rocket
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Delta 2 rocket launched for the final time at 6:02 a.m. PDT (9:02 a.m. EDT; 1302 GMT) Saturday. Michael Freilich, head of NASA’s Earth science division, signs a star decal on the side of the Delta 2 rocket. ULA added 167 stars to the rocket, each containing up to five signatures from engineers,…
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Scientists eager to renew global ice measurements with ICESat 2 mission
Artist’s illustration of the ICESat 2 satellite and its six green laser beams designed to measure the height of ice sheets. Credit: NASA The satellite awaiting launch early Saturday from California aboard the final flight of the venerable Delta 2 rocket should allow scientists to more precisely track changes in our planet’s ice sheets, using…
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Installation of ice-measuring satellite caps assembly of last Delta 2 rocket
Technicians open and inspect the flight door to ICESat 2’s laser instrument shortly after the spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in June. Credit: USAF 30th Space Wing/Timothy Trenkle NASA’s ICESat 2 satellite has been bolted atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as ground…
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Photos: Final Delta 2 rocket assembled for launch in California
The step-by-step stacking of United Launch Alliance’s final Delta 2 rocket was completed in June at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for liftoff Sept. 15 with an Earth science satellite for NASA. Workers at Vandenberg lifted the Delta 2’s first stage on its launch mount June 8, then added an interstage connector June 12.…
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Tanking test marks resumption of Delta 2 rocket’s final launch campaign
Ground crews lift the second stage of a Delta 2 rocket into the mobile gantry at Space Launch Complex 2-West at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The second stage was stacked atop the Delta 2 rocket June 21. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin With each day, another milestone passes like clockwork for engineers and technicians preparing a United…
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Webb’s launch delayed to 2021 at an extra cost of nearly $1 billion
Artist’s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Northrop Grumman An independent panel has informed NASA that the James Webb Space Telescope will not be ready for launch until March 2021, and Congress will have to reauthorize the long-delayed, over-budget mission after breaching an $8 billion cost cap, officials said Wednesday. Blunders made by…
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More signs of past — and possibly present — habitability of Mars
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Credit: NASA/GSFC NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, slowly making its way up the side of a towering mountain of sedimentary rock at the center of its Gale Crater landing site, has found fresh evidence for the red planet’s past — and possibly present — habitability, scientists reported Thursday. The…
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WFIRST astronomy mission faces cuts to contain rising costs
Artist’s concept of the WFIRST observatory. Credit: NASA/GSFC NASA has directed the team developing the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope, a flagship astronomy mission set for launch in the mid-2020s to study dark energy and exoplanets, to reduce the observatory’s scientific capabilities and keep it under a $3.2 billion cost cap. Fresh off their experience with…
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Asteroid-bound probe returns Earth-moon family portrait
The MapCam camera on the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft took this picture of the Earth and the moon Oct. 2 at a distance of around 3.2 million miles (5.1 million kilometers) from Earth. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona Ten days after a swingby to receive a gravitational boost toward its asteroid target, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft turned one of…