Tag: Space Force
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Despite winning contract, SpaceX sticks with lawsuit against feds and rocket rivals
An automated camera documents the Falcon Heavy rocket’s first ascent from Kennedy Space Center in February 2018 with SpaceX’s hangar in the foreground. (GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota) Update: A federal district judge in California ruled against SpaceX and ordered its case against the Air Force to be vacated. The order was issued under seal…
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Payload stacked for NROL-44; ULA, SpaceX win NSSL awards
United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Delta IV Heavy rocket has received its clandestine payload for the upcoming NROL-44 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office as teams continue launch preparations on SLC-37B at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL. The mission is set to launch at the end of August and comes as ULA wins 60%…
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ULA and SpaceX win shares of future national security launches; Blue Origin loses out
The U.S. Space Force has given its stamp of approval to United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, shown in the artist’s conception at left; and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, shown at right. (ULA Illustration for Vulcan / GeekWire Photo / Kevin Lisota for Falcon Heavy) The U.S. Space Force designated United Launch Alliance and SpaceX as…
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SpaceX launches third GPS Block III satellite
SpaceX launched their Falcon 9 rocket with the third Block III Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, named SV03. Block III is the next generation of GPS satellites, replacing the aging Block II series. This will be SpaceX’s second GPS launch, out of the five they have been awarded so far. This mission launched at the…
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SpaceX sends third next-gen GPS III satellite into orbit for Space Force
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the third in a series of next-generation GPS III satellites into orbit today, marking another step forward for America’s satellite-based navigation system and the Space Force that manages it. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida came at 4:10 p.m. ET (1:10 p.m. PT), at the end…
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Vulcan on track as ULA eyes early-2021 test flight to the Moon
United Launch Alliance has announced their Vulcan rocket is progressing towards its maiden launch as soon as early-2021. While an exact launch target isn’t known yet, the mission will use a newly-built Launch Umbilical Tower while sharing Atlas V’s Vertical Integration Facility and SLC-41 launch pad in Florida. When first announced in 2014 as a…
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Vulcan on track as ULA eyes early-2021 test flight to the Moon
United Launch Alliance has announced their Vulcan rocket is progressing towards its maiden launch as soon as early-2021. While an exact launch target isn’t known yet, the mission will use a newly-built Launch Umbilical Tower while sharing Atlas V’s Vertical Integration Facility and SLC-41 launch pad in Florida. When first announced in 2014 as a…
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Boeing-built X-37B space plane goes into orbit for shadowy Space Force test mission
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launched a Boeing-built X-37B space plane today on a semi-secret orbital mission under the management of the recently created Space Force. Today’s USSF-7 launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida came at 9:14 a.m. ET (6:14 a.m. PT), a day after the first attempt was called…
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ULA in final pre-launch preps for Atlas V USSF-7 mission next week
United Launch Alliance is proceeding smoothly through the final round of preflight elements of the Atlas V rocket tasked with launching the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane on its sixth mission next week. The Atlas V 501 rocket is slated to lift off from SLC-41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Saturday,…
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Space Force will test solar power transmission during X-37B space plane’s next mystery flight
The Pentagon’s X-37B space plane is encapsulated within the payload fairing of its Atlas 5 launch vehicle. (Boeing Photo) When a Boeing-built X-37B space plane is sent into orbit this month for the test program’s sixth flight, it will try out a technology that’s been more than a decade in the making: space-based solar power.…