Tag: military space
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Live coverage: Atlas 5 launches with X-37B spaceplane
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Atlas 5 rocket with on the sixth flight of the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. United Launch Alliance’s live launch broadcast begins at 8:55 a.m. EDT (1255 GMT) Sunday, May 17. Spaceflight Now members can watch a live…
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Spy satellite launch on Delta 4-Heavy rocket delayed to August
File photo of a Delta 4-Heavy launch in June 2012. Credit: United Launch Alliance The next flight of United Launch Alliance’s triple-barrel Delta 4-Heavy rocket has been delayed from June to late August, military officials said Friday. The heavy-lift rocket will carry a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit, likely targeting a geosynchronous station…
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Payloads revealed for next flight of X-37B military spaceplane
The X-37B spacecraft is encapsulated inside the Atlas 5 rocket’s payload fairing inside a processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: U.S. Space Force The next flight of the U.S. military’s reusable X-37B spaceplane — scheduled for liftoff May 16 from Cape Canaveral — will carry more experiments into orbit than any…
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Falcon Heavy set for design validation milestone before late 2020 launch
A Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 25, 2019. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky The U.S. Space Force expects to complete design validation on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket by July, ahead of the launch of the military’s first high-priority national security mission on the heavy-lifter late this year.…
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ULA begins stacking rocket for next launch of U.S. military spaceplane
An Atlas 5 first stage was raised vertical Thursday inside United Launch Alliance’s Vertical Integration Facility. Credit: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance technicians raised the first stage of the company’s next Atlas 5 rocket onto a mobile launch platform at Cape Canaveral Thursday, kicking off the launch vehicle’s build-up for a mission scheduled for…
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Iran places military satellite in orbit
Iran’s Qased launcher lifts off Wednesday with the country’s Noor military satellite. Credit: IRIB News Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps — a branch of the country’s armed forces — launched a small military spacecraft into orbit Wednesday, ending a string of rocket failures in the nascent Iranian satellite program. The small military craft, named Noor, flew…
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U.S. officials condemn Russian anti-satellite test
A visualization of space debris in low Earth orbit. Credit: NASA The U.S. military’s chief of space operations rebuked a test of a Russian anti-satellite missile Wednesday, although the test did not apparently target and destroy a spacecraft in orbit. In a statement, U.S. Space Command said it was aware of a test Wednesday of…
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ULA delivers Delta 4-Heavy rocket to California launch base
The three first stage boosters for a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket are revealed April 5 after delivery on ULA’s RocketShip transport vessel. Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Aubree Owens United Launch Alliance’s rocket transport ship has delivered a Delta 4-Heavy rocket to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation…
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Military officials committed to keeping Cape Canaveral open for launches
Military officials say launches will continue at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but public viewing sites will be closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky The military-run Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral remains ready to support upcoming launches — including an Atlas 5 flight Thursday — amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said…
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Soyuz rocket launches with Russian navigation satellite
A Soyuz booster and Fregat upper stage carried a Russian Glonass navigation satellite into orbit Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian space officials said. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced a Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from Plesetsk — about 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow — at 1828 GMT (2:28 p.m. EDT; 9:28…