United Launch Alliance Atlas V Launch Highlights – NASA InSight

You didn’t think we would have a high profile Atlas V launch without me sharing the launch highlights video, did you? Of course not. While there wasn’t too much to see with this mornings launch, it still put on quite a show for what we could see, especially some footage taken above the clouds from …
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Kennedy Space Center: “Bridge to Space” 1968 NASA Film

In keeping up with the recent anniversary of the launch of Apollo 6, I’m sharing this film from 1968 going over general operations at Kennedy Space Center, specifically in preparation for the Apollo 6 launch. It’s produced more like a proper film than many of the other NASA films from the 60’s I’ve shown here. …
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The Launch Of Soyuz MS-08

Earlier today on March 21st, 2018 Soyuz MS-08 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying a new crew of 3, Oleg Artemyev, Andrew J. Feustel, and Richard R. Arnold,  to the International Space Station. The Soyuz spacecraft is taking the 2 day route, as opposed to the 6 hour rendezvous and docking method used during optimal …
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60 Years Ago: The Launch Of Vanguard 1

On March 17th, 1958 the United States Navy successfully launched a satellite in its Vanguard program, Vanguard 1. This was the same type of rocket and payload as in the failed Vanguard TV-3 incident that embarrassed the United States back in December of 1957, and another test in February 1958 which also ended in failure. …
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60 Years Ago, The Launch Of Explorer 1: America’s Entry Into Space

In the late evening, just an hour before midnight on January 31st, 1958, the United States launched it’s first satellite – Explorer 1. Explorer 1 was our answer to Sputnik 1 and 2. At least, it was our successful answer – our previous attempt, Vanguard TV3, ended in a very famous disastrous failure barely leaving …
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The Amazing Success Of The Rocket Lab “Electron” Launch Vehicle

In a bit of rocketry news that I’m long overdue for writing about, back on January 21st, 2018, the New Zealand company Rocket Lab had the first successful launch of their Electron rocket – a booster designed to launch very small payloads into Earth orbit. Not only does this mark New Zealand’s entry into orbital …
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50 Years Ago, The Launch And Mission Of Apollo 5

On January 22nd, 1968 a Saturn 1B rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 37B carrying the first Apollo Lunar Module into orbit for its first in-space test flight. While Apollo 4 had tested the massive Saturn V, itself, of course, a critical machine in physically getting to the Moon, Apollo 5 …
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Delta IV NROL-47 Launch Highlights

Here we have the launch highlights video for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV launch of NROL-47. As is standard for these launch highlights videos, it covers the usual pre-launch preparations, and contains many views of the vehicle which were not shown during the actual launch live stream. It includes some quite beautiful views of …
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15 Years Ago: The Launch Of Columbia On STS-107

15 years ago today the Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off on what was to become its last mission, STS-107. This flight carried a crew of 7 not to the International Space Station – Columbia was far too heavy for the orbital inclination the Space Station orbits at – but a simple Earth Orbit mission for …
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Reports Say The Mysterious “Zuma” Payload May Be Lost!

In a bit of news that I just have to write about, it appears, according to several news reports over the last 24 hours that the “Zuma” payload launched by SpaceX this past Sunday has been lost ! Of course, reports are conflicting – some sites are saying the launch was fine on SpaceX’s part, …
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I Used To Love SpaceX… And Then Things Changed. (Part 1)

Something I noticed the other day when scouring older articles of mine about SpaceX is that I used to love the company, and what they do. No, seriously, I used to seriously talk just like the very fans I deride now, right down to even some of the same phrasings about how watching them land …
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CRS-13 Is Successfully Launched To The International Space Station

After several delays, the final CRS flight of 2017, CRS-13, launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40 for a standard cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. This mission was a somewhat critical one – after the delay of the mysterious Zuma payload, SpaceX basically hasn’t …
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JPSS-1 Launch Highlights And Delta II Launch Profile

Last week marked the penultimate launch of the Delta II rocket,  carrying the JPSS-1 satellite into a polar orbit to help with weather research and forecasting here in the United States. Today I bring you a pair of videos – the first is the launch highlights clip, produced by United Launch Alliance, showing clips of …
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The Flight Of Apollo 4 – 1967 NASA Film

I wrote earlier that today marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 4 – the first flight of the Saturn V rocket. This mission was designed to both test the entire Saturn V, but also the Apollo Command Module. Previous Article – 50 Years Ago, The Launch Of Apollo 4 – The First …
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A Vega Rocket Successfully Launches The Mohammed VI-A Satellite For Morocco

Coming a week after the launch  of a Minotaur-C, we have the launch of a very similar looking booster – the European Space Agencies Vega rocket, this time carrying the Mohammed VI-A satellite for the Kingdom of Morocco. This booster, of course, launched from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. At first glance, one …
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