Yesterday morning an Atlas V rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a mission to resupply the International Space Station. The Cygnus Resupply Vehicle, named the SS John Glenn, is carrying over 3,000 kilograms of cargo to the Space Station as part of Orbital Sciences contract with NASA to provide commercial cargo transportation […]
Seems like every few months the National Reconnaissance Office is sending another reconnaissance satellite into orbit – yesterday the payload was NROL-79, launched into a polar orbit from Vandeberg Air Force Base on an Atlas V booster in the standard 401 configuration. It was a somewhat early morning launch of a naval reconnaissance satellite. The […]
Another day, another launch it seems. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster (431 configuration) launched the Echostar 19 communications satellite today, marking the 68th Atlas V launch. Normally I would go on waxing poetically about the payload, the booster, and what have you, but this time, there isn’t anything to say that hasn’t been […]
After some delays due to vehicle issues (which I believe were reported as a “false positive” in an error detection system) and a minor issue with the Eastern Missile Range (Remember, rocket launches are subject to USAF missile range safety protocol), The NOAA/NASA satellite was successfully released from the upper stage of it’s Atlas V […]
An Atlas V is set to launch on November 19th in a 541 configuration (5 meter payload fairing, 1 Common Core Booster, and 4 Solid Rocket Boosters) carrying the GOES-R payload for NASA and the NOAA. This satellite will be placed into a geostationary orbit around the earth to monitor the general weather conditions of the […]
This video, released a few weeks ago, is an amazing way to experience Junes NROL-37 launch, via use of full 360 degree cameras placed around the launch complex. It’s exactly as it sounds, no more, no less: multiple views of the launch, with you being able to look around much like you were there. 360 […]
After a nearly 2 month delay, the Worldview 4 satellite successfully launched today into a sun-synchronous polar orbit. Worldview 4 is an Earth Imaging satellite owned by Digital Globe, which will provide nearly double the imaging resolution currently available in non-military satellite imagery. This was a mission made up of delays, it would seem: A […]
We have another exciting Atlas V launch today, this time from Vandenburg Air Force Base off the East coast of the United States! This launch will be the baseline Atlas V, the “401” configuration, no side boosters and a single engine centaur stage. The payload, the Worldview-4 commercial Earth observations Satellite, will be launched into […]
As is common post launch, United Launch Alliance has published a video compiling highlights and best views of the launch of AFSPC-6 on its Delta IV rocket. As is equally common for me, I present this video here for those of you who enjoy such, and don’t feel like sitting through the entire launch video […]
At 12:47 AM Eastern Daylight Time this morning, August 19th, a Delta IV booster carrying the twin AFSPC-6 satellites successfully lifted off from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. These satellites are, as best i can tell, intended to monitor on orbit activities of other satellites and the like for the benefit […]
Coming up tonight, or early tomorrow morning I should say, will be the launch of a Delta IV rocket carrying a pair of “Space Situational Awareness Program” satellites into a near geosynchronous orbit. Like most military payloads, these satellites are a bit of a mystery, but from what I can gather they will provide a […]
Funny how things go, sometimes. The moment I published my previous article on the NROL-37 launch, United Launch Alliance uploaded 2 videos of their own – One being the complete livestream of the mission, and the other being a “Launch Highlights” compilation, capturing the feel of the pre-launch and early boost phases in a very […]
Ah, the Delta IV Heavy. The most powerful active launch vehicle in the world. While other launch vehicles have surpassed its capacity, few of those actually had successful flights, and regardless of their successes, or lack thereof, none of these top tier boosters are in production anymore. In December 2014, a Delta IV Heavy booster […]