Tag: Kennedy Space Center
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U.S. Air Force certifies Falcon Heavy rocket, awards launch contract
SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket blasts off from launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Feb. 6. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now The successful maiden flight of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in February was enough for the U.S. Air Force to certify the huge booster to carry the military’s…
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SpaceX plans new facilities at KSC to support more launches, landings
Artist’s concept of SpaceX’s new launch and landing control center. Credit: SpaceX/NASA An airport-like viewing tower standing up to 30 stories tall is the centerpiece of SpaceX’s planned rocket refurbishment and operations base proposed for vacant land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Information published in a draft environmental assessment prepared by KSC officials…
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Orbital ATK names new launcher, selects upper stage engine
Artist’s illustration of Orbital ATK’s proposed OmegA rocket. Credit: Orbital ATK Orbital ATK’s proposed rocket to answer the U.S. Air Force’s desire for two families of satellite launchers with U.S.-made propulsion systems will be named OmegA, and the company has selected the cryogenic Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine to power the vehicle’s upper stage, officials announced…
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Orbital ATK confident new rocket will win Air Force support
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated April 13. Artist’s concept of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch system in flight. Credit: Orbital ATK Orbital ATK’s bid to join the U.S. military’s roster of rockets to haul the most critical national security satellites into orbit faces stiff competition from entrenched launch providers and billionaire entrepreneurs, but the company is confident…
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NASA releases summary of investigation into SpaceX’s 2015 launch failure
NASA’s independent review team that investigated the destruction of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon supply ship shortly after liftoff in June 2015 concluded a design error led to the loss of more than two tons of provisions and equipment heading for the International Space Station. Engineers from NASA’s Launch Services Program, a group…
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National Space Council acts to streamline regulatory hurdles
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION Vice President Mike Pence speaks Wednesday at the second meeting of the National Space Council. Credit: NASA The newly re-activated National Space Council is acting quickly to streamline convoluted regulatory requirements that frequently slow development of new commercial space initiatives, a shift in focus in keeping with the…
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White House emphasizes industry over science in Space Council appointments
Vice President Mike Pence visited a United Launch Alliance hangar Tuesday evening at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where a Delta 4-Heavy rocket is being readied for liftoff in July. Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO, briefed Pence on the facility. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now A roster of representatives from the commercial space industry, astronauts,…
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National Space Council’s meeting takes aim at industry regulations – and at China
With NASA’s Orion deep-space capsule serving as a backdrop, Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a meeting of the National Space Council at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA via YouTube) Space industry deregulation, and the potential perils posed by China’s space program, shared the spotlight at today’s meeting of the National Space Council, presided…
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Exoplanet-hunting satellite arrives in Florida for April launch
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is pictured inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after arriving Feb. 12. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final testing, fueling and attachment to a Falcon 9 launcher for liftoff in…
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Photos: SpaceX’s imagery of Falcon Heavy test flight
SpaceX this week released a new batch of photos showing the Feb. 6 liftoff of the company’s first Falcon Heavy rocket from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, followed by landing of the launcher’s two side boosters around eight minutes later at nearby Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Falcon Heavy lifted…