Tag: National Reconnaissance Office
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SpaceX completes static fire test for Sunday launch of secret satellite
Nine Merlin engines at the base of SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket fired up Tuesday on a launch pad in Florida, wringing out the booster and ground systems ahead of a planned liftoff Sunday with a top secret payload for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency. The computer-controlled countdown sequencer oversaw filling of the two-stage…
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Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket on track for Sunday launch
Live coverage of SpaceX’s preparations for the next Falcon 9 rocket launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission will launch a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
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With an eye on growing cost, NASA aims for 2025 launch of next ‘great observatory’
Artist’s concept of the WFIRST spacecraft. Credit: NASA NASA managers say the WFIRST mission, the next in the agency’s line of powerful observatories after the Hubble and James Webb telescopes, could cost around $3.2 billion after budgeting for a novel first-of-its-kind instrument to probe the make-up of planets around nearby stars and a bigger-than-expected launch…
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United Launch Alliance wins three U.S. government satellite launches
Delta 4-Heavy, Atlas 5-551 and Atlas 5-401 have each booked new U.S. government missions. Photos by United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — The most powerful variants of the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets have been purchased by the Air Force to launch intelligence-gathering spacecraft for the U.S. government, and NASA has bought an Atlas…
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Photos: Atlas 5 delivers success on 70th Launch
For its 70th launch in 14 years, the Atlas 5 rocket carried the NROL-79 payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: United Launch Alliance See earlier NROL-79 coverage. Our Atlas archive.
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Atlas 5 powers covert reconnaissance payload to orbit on its 70th mission
Performing a successful spacelift mission for the U.S. spy satellite agency, an Atlas 5 rocket delivered a surveillance package into orbit today believed by analysts to be another pair of tandem sleuths to scoop up radio signals from adversarial ships at sea. Liftoff came at 9:49:51 a.m. local time (12:49:51 p.m. EST; 1749:51 GMT) from…
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Video: NROL-79 launch aboard Atlas 5
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 191 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, unleashes 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine at 9:49:51 a.m. local time (12:49:51 p.m. EST; 1749:51 GMT) today to launch the secret NROL-79 payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. See…
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Photos: Pad gantry rolled back to reveal Atlas 5 for launch
The mobile service tower retracts from the Atlas 5 rocket, revealing the 191-foot-tall vehicle for liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, carrying the classified NROL-79 national security payload for the U.S. government. Credit: United Launch Alliance See earlier NROL-79 coverage. Our Atlas archive.
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Photos: Atlas 5 rocket ready to fly with NROL-79 payload
The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket stands atop Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on the eve of Wednesday’s NROL-79 satellite-deployment mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. Rocky, the ULA mascot, even paid a visit to the pad Tuesday morning while photographers were setting up sound-activated cameras to capture…
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Timeline: Atlas 5/NROL-79 launch events
Follow the unclassified portion of the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent to space from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base launch site with the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-79 satellite payload. Launch is scheduled for Wednesday at 9:50 a.m. local time (12:50 p.m. EST; 1750 GMT). T+00:01.1: Liftoff The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 vehicle, designated AV-068,…