Tag: Space Force
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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.…
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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’s Atlas 5 rocket launches AEHF-6 satellite on Space Force’s first official orbital mission
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket launches the AEHF-6 military communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (ULA via YouTube) The first satellite mission conducted under the name of the U.S. Space Force got underway today with the launch of the AEHF-6 military communications satellite atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5…
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Star Trek’s George Takei tweaks President Trump over Space Force’s trekky new seal
The seal for Star Trek’s fictional Starfleet Command has some design elements in common with the seal for the U.S. Space Force. (CBS / Space Force Images via Twitter) We don’t know whether Mr. Spock would have cocked an eyebrow over the Starfleet-like U.S. Space Force seal that was revealed by President Donald Trump today,…
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Space Force flies through Twitter flak after unveiling camo uniforms in earthy tones
The U.S. Space Force puts its own nametape on what looks like a standard-issue woodland camouflage uniform. (U.S. Space Force Photo via Twitter) The newly minted U.S. Space Force unveiled its uniform on Friday — and defended its fashion statement against Twitter criticism that the camouflage color scheme should have been more spacey. Less than…
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President Trump signs the Space Force into existence under the Air Force’s wing
President Donald Trump signs the National Defense Authorization Act as VIPs including First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Karen Pence look on. (White House via YouTube) Amid military fanfare, President Donald Trump signed a defense authorization bill into law to create the U.S. Space Force as a sixth branch of the armed…