Tag: United Launch Alliance
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United Launch Alliance’s CEO weighs Blue Origin’s chances in multibillion-dollar rocket engine race
United Launch Alliance’s president and CEO, Tory Bruno, talks with students during the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo. (GeekWire photo by Alan Boyle) COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – United Launch Alliance’s president and CEO, Tory Bruno, is facing a 2019 deadline from Congress to come up with a made-in-the-USA replacement for the Russian-built rocket engines…
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Swiss company to build Vulcan fairings, composite structures
Artist’s concept of a Vulcan rocket with a 4-meter payload fairing made by Ruag Space. Credit: ULA United Launch Alliance plans to introduce a new payload fairing design on the next-generation Vulcan rocket, which will fly with composite parts made by Switzerland-based Ruag Space, the company’s chief executive said Wednesday. Ruag already builds 5.4-meter (17.7-foot)…
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New target date for next Atlas 5 launch
File photo of Atlas 5 first stage in ASOC. Credit: NASA-KSC CAPE CANAVERAL — As the internal investigation continues into the first stage performance trouble on the last Atlas 5 rocket launch, the next mission on the manifest has slipped to May 27. Originally planned for May 5, the flight of the Navy’s fifth and…
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Bigelow Aerospace and ULA plan to launch supersized space station module in 2020
An artist’s conception shows the B330 space module in Earth orbit. (Credit: Bigelow Aerospace) DENVER – Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance have announced a plan to launch Bigelow’s B330 expandable space module aboard an Atlas 5 rocket in 2020, to serve as a destination for commercial operations in orbit. Today’s announcement at the Space Symposium…
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Atlas 5 to launch commercial space habitat for Bigelow Aerospace
An illustration of Bigelow module launching atop Atlas 5. Credit: ULA The maker of inflatable technology for a commercial space station will use a top-of-the-line Atlas 5 rocket with a stretched nose cone to hoist the first habitat into Earth orbit in 2020. Bigelow Aerospace and United Launch Alliance announced the partnership today at the…
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United Launch Alliance narrowing lists of suspects in rocket anomaly
First stage graphic. Credit: NASA TV CAPE CANAVERAL — The detective work into the Atlas 5 rocket’s first stage performance trouble during the Cygnus cargo ship launch a week ago has implicated the fuel system as the likely culprit for using up the liquid oxygen supply too quickly. That is what United Launch Alliance engineers…
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Cygnus cargo ship hooks up to space station; ULA investigates rocket glitch
The International Space Station’s robotic arm reaches out to grapple Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo ship in a video view with an overlay of computer data. (Credit: NASA TV) Orbital ATK’s Cygnus commercial cargo ship had a smooth link-up with the International Space Station today, delivering about 7,500 pounds of supplies, equipment, experiments and high-tech gizmos.…
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Pentagon opens investigation into contracts with ULA
File photo of an Atlas 5 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. Navy communications satellite in January 2015. Credit: ULA The U.S. Defense Department’s internal watchdog has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon’s contracts with United Launch Alliance were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent…
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Reviewers approve early design work on new Vulcan rocket
Vulcan is visualized here in its 441 configuration. Credit: United Launch Alliance CAPE CANAVERAL — Work to create a new all-American rocket, the United Launch Alliance Vulcan-Centaur, has passed its first major hurdle for its first flight in three years, officials announced Thursday. The Preliminary Design Review for the next-generation vehicle was recently completed and…
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Cygnus cargo craft heads for space station with 3-D printer and more cool gizmos
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket lifts off, sending Orbital ATK’s Cygnus cargo capsule into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (Credit: NASA) Orbital ATK’s commercial Cygnus cargo capsule was lofted into orbit tonight atop an Atlas 5 rocket, carrying an upgraded 3-D printer, a gecko-type gripper, a fire-starting experiment and tons of…