Tag: Orbital ATK
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Video: Inside the CYGNSS satellite factory and the Pegasus carrier aircraft
Updated before Thursday’s launch attempt. Spaceflight Now visited the CYGNSS production facility at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and the Pegasus XL rocket’s carrier plane at Cape Canaveral for rare looks at hardware that make NASA’s $157 million hurricane research mission possible. In the first video, CYGNSS integration and test manager Alan Henry…
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Video: Pegasus and CYGNSS pre-launch news conference
This is the pre-launch news conference for NASA’s CYGNSS hurricane research mission featuring a constellation of eight microsats launching Dec. 12 aboard an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket off the Florida coast. Science briefing
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Photos: Orbital ATK’s temporary Pegasus home base at Cape Canaveral
Take a look around the L-1011 jetliner, Pegasus rocket, and ground support gear at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Skid Strip for Monday’s scheduled launch of eight microsatellites to listen for winds inside hurricanes. NASA and Orbital ATK, the Pegasus rocket’s contractor, gave reporters and photographers a tour of the “hot pad” at the Cape Canaveral…
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NASA-funded satellite fleet could give hurricane forecasting a boost
Artist’s concept of the CYGNSS satellites deploying from the carrier module on the Pegasus rocket’s third stage. Credit: NASA/University of Michigan/SWRI Eight mini-satellites packed snug inside a Pegasus rocket slung under a modified jumbo jet will fire into orbit Monday off Florida’s East Coast, launching on a $157 million NASA mission that could help forecasters…
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Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch
Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit. The spacecraft are part of NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, a $157 million project…
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SpaceX return-to-flight slips to early January
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett SpaceX’s first mission since a rocket explosion on a Florida launch pad is now scheduled for early January, when a Falcon 9 booster is set to begin a 70-satellite deployment for Iridium’s next-generation voice and…
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SpaceX sets Dec. 16 for first flight since launch pad explosion
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket rolling to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg. Credit: SpaceX The first 10 satellites in Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data network could head into orbit from California as soon as Dec. 16 on SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 flight since a booster exploded on…
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Cargo ship-turned-research lab ends mission with re-entry
The Cygnus spacecraft flies away from the International Space Station on Nov. 21. Credit: NASA/ESA/Thomas Pesquet In the week since it departed the International Space Station to wrap up a successful cargo delivery mission, Orbital ATK’s Cygnus supply ship hosted a combustion research experiment, deployed four small satellites for a San Francisco-based startup, then descended…
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Atlas 5 rocket to launch space station cargo delivery mission in March
– Posted at 12:01 a.m. – Updated at 10:15 a.m. with Orbital ATK statement File photo of Atlas 5 launch. Credit: ULA CAPE CANAVERAL — Calling on the Atlas 5 rocket to flex its muscles one more time, Orbital ATK will partner with United Launch Alliance once again to send a massive load of supplies…
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Video: Latest Cygnus resupply ship arrives at the space station
Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo freighter loaded with over 5,000 pounds of crew provisions, equipment and science gear arrived at the International Space Station on Oct. 23. The mission is named for the late Alan “Dex” Poindexter, a Naval Aviator and two-time space shuttle astronaut who served as pilot and then commander in the waning years…