Tag: GPS 3
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Live coverage: SpaceX launches GPS navigation satellite for U.S. Air Force
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida with the U.S. Air Force’s GPS 3 SV01 navigation satellite. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Spaceflight Now Members can watch a live view of Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. SpaceX’s…
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Falcon 9 launch timeline with the GPS 3 SV01 navigation satellite
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Dec. 19, Dec. 21 and Dec. 22 with new target launch dates. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Sunday carrying the U.S. Air Force’s first GPS 3-series navigation satellite destined for an orbit more than 12,000 miles above Earth. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) rocket is poised for…
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Air Force requirements will keep SpaceX from landing Falcon 9 booster after GPS launch
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated Dec. 19, Dec. 21 and Dec. 22 for new target launch dates. The U.S. Air Force’s first upgraded GPS 3-series navigation satellite undergoes electromagnetic testing at Lockheed Martin’s factory in Denver. Credit: Lockheed Martin The demands of launching the first in an upgraded line of U.S. Air Force GPS navigation satellites, including a…
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U.S. Air Force divides new launch contracts between SpaceX, ULA
File photo of an Atlas 5 rocket launch. Credit: United Launch Alliance SpaceX and United Launch Alliance have split up to $645 million in new contracts to deploy U.S. Air Force navigation and surveillance satellites into orbit from 2019 through 2021. A Falcon 9 rocket built and operated by SpaceX will launch the Air Force’s…
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SpaceX nabs GPS launch contract as Air Force opens more missions for bidding
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket launching from Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX The U.S. Air Force this week awarded SpaceX a contract to launch a Global Positioning System satellite in early 2019, concluding the second of as many as 15 competitions the military plans to run over the next year to pit SpaceX against…
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Falcon 9 rocket wins landmark U.S. Air Force launch contract
File photo of a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch a third-generation GPS navigation satellite for the U.S. military in 2018, the Air Force said Wednesday, breaking a monopoly held by United Launch Alliance since its formation nearly a decade ago. The second satellite in the Air…
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Pentagon opens investigation into contracts with ULA
File photo of an Atlas 5 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. Navy communications satellite in January 2015. Credit: ULA The U.S. Defense Department’s internal watchdog has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon’s contracts with United Launch Alliance were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent…
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ULA sits out Air Force launch competition
File photo of an Atlas 5 rocket launch. Credit: ULA United Launch Alliance said Monday it did not submit a proposal in a competition to launch a U.S. Air Force GPS navigation satellite, apparently relinquishing the contract to rival SpaceX, the only other company certified to launch the mission. The Air Force wanted both companies…
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Air Force stays the course with SpaceX rocket certification
File photo of a previous Falcon 9 launch. Credit: SpaceX Sunday’s Falcon 9 rocket failure may have blemished SpaceX’s success record, but the mishap will not keep the entrepreneurial space company from competing for U.S. military launch contracts with rival United Launch Alliance, according to an Air Force general. SpaceX won certification from the Air…
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SpaceX cleared to launch U.S. national security satellites
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch. Credit: SpaceX The U.S. Air Force announced Tuesday that SpaceX is now eligible to compete for launches of U.S. national security satellites, closing a tumultuous chapter in the U.S. rocket industry and ending the Pentagon’s sole reliance on United Launch Alliance to haul military payloads into…