Tag: ULA
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Delta 4 rocket launches NROL-71 spy satellite after a month’s worth of delays
United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4 Heavy rocket lifts off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base, sending the NROL-71 classified payload into space. (ULA Photo) The National Reconnaissance Office’s latest classified spy satellite, NROL-71, was launched today by a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket into California’s sunny skies. Today’s trouble-free countdown at Vandenberg Air…
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ULA Delta IV-Heavy launches NROL-71 following lengthy delay
United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket launched Saturday with the mysterious NROL-71 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from SLC-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A series of technical and weather-related scrubs hampered the launch attempts, prior to a lengthy stand down to fix a hydrogen leak that scrubbed the final attempt…
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Atlas V 551 launches AEHF-4 for the US Air Force
United Launch Alliance’s workhorse Atlas V rocket launched an advanced communications satellite for the US Air Force Wednesday, following an early-morning liftoff from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Atlas launched at the opening of a two-hour window at 00:15 local time (04:15 UTC), successfully deloying the spacecraft after a three-and-a-half-hour mission. Wednesday’s launch deployed…
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NGIS fires up GEM-63 motor destined for future ULA launches
A new milestone for the future of United Launch Alliance’s rockets was conducted by Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS) on Thursday, when the first GEM-63 motor was test-fired for 110 seconds during the QM-1 firing at the NGIS testing facility in Promontory, Utah – sending 373,000 lbs of thrust along with bright fire, loud noise and…
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Delta II concludes amazing legacy with ICESat-2 launch
After twenty-nine years of reliable service, United Launch Alliance’s veteran Delta II rocket made its final flight Saturday with the deployment of the ICESat-2 climate research satellite for NASA. Delta lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 06:02 Local Time, beginning a mission that also closed the final chapter in the 60-year-long history of…
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Delta II concludes amazing legacy with ICESat-2 launch
After twenty-nine years of reliable service, United Launch Alliance’s veteran Delta II rocket made its final flight Saturday with the deployment of the ICESat-2 climate research satellite for NASA. Delta lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 06:02 Local Time, beginning a mission that also closed the final chapter in the 60-year-long history of…
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Parker Solar Probe, ULA enter final pre-launch processing marathon
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is in its final, home-stretch of processing prior to its scheduled launch which is now No Earlier Than (NET) 6 August 2018 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. The mission, which will be humanity’s first to “touch the surface of the Sun”, is preparing for encapsulation inside its…
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SpaceX, ULA near-term manifests take shape, SpaceX aims for 1st RTLS at Vandenberg
With the first half of 2018 in the books, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance’s near term launch manifests are taking shape with an exciting 15 day period between 20 July and 4 August during which four flights are scheduled. SpaceX has also officially filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission, FCC, to perform the first…
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RL10 engine – pushing towards 60 years of service – to live on with Vulcan
Aerojet Rocketdyne’s RL10 engine is continuing to beat out its younger competitors, winning another future role as the upper stage engine for the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan/Centaur rocket. The engine is no strange to ULA, providing a key role with both of its Delta IV and Atlas V rockets that Vulcan will eventually replace.…
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United Launch Alliance picks Aerojet’s RL10 rocket engine for Vulcan upper stage
Aerojet Rocketdyne has successfully tested a full-scale, 3-D-printed thrust chamber assembly for its workhorse RL-10 rocket engine. (Aerojet Rocketdyne Photo) United Launch Alliance has chosen Aerojet Rocketdyne over Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to provide the upper-stage rocket engine for its next-generation Vulcan launch vehicle. But the suspense continues in the bigger…