News Archive / Author: Britt Rawcliffe

Britt Rawcliffe is a professional freelance aerospace and aviation photographer based out of Pennsylvania with over six years of professional photographic experience. Her creative imagery has spanned into all areas relating to space, including launches, photojournalism, architecture, and portraiture. Britt’s passion for history has been a common thread in much of her work, including having photographed many Moonwalkers such as Buzz Aldrin and Gene Cernan.

Articles By Britt Rawcliffe

• Antares launch moves to no earlier than Oct. 24

  October 7th, 2014

  Earlier today, Orbital Sciences and NASA announced that their ORB-3 Antares/Cygnus launch has been moved to no earlier than (NET) Friday, Oct. 24 with a target liftoff time of 7:52 p.m. EDT (2352 GMT) from Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), located at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. A no-earlier-than (NET) date means that there is still the […]

• Japan successfully launches sunflower satellite Himawari-8

  October 7th, 2014

  Despite strong winds  at 1:16 am EST (2:16 pm JST) on Oct 7, Japan’s Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched the Himawari-8 satellite on time to begin studying the weather from space. The weather was partly cloudy and launch conditions in the afternoon hours were favorable for launch. Himawari, meaning “sunflower” in Japanese, was […]

• Our Spaceflight Heritage: NASA at 56

  October 1st, 2014

  Today marks the birth of the United States’ space agency, which ushered in a new era of space exploration from its inception in 1958. From its start as NACA looking to better aviation in the early 1910s, it quickly transformed into an influential and innovative organization looking to expand into outer space.

• Successful Russian spacewalk deploys nanosat – installs experiments

  August 18th, 2014

  This morning at 10:02 a.m. EDT (1422 GMT) saw the start of a lengthy extra-vehicular activity or “EVA” for Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The spacewalking duo set out to deploy a nanosatellite and install another scientific experiment package. Today’s successful extravehicular activity (EVA ) went on until 3:13 […]

• Flawless: Antares sends ‘Janice Voss’ Cygnus spacecraft with cargo for ISS to orbit

  July 13th, 2014

  WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, Va – After a series of delays over the past few months, an Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket with the SS Janice Voss Cygnus spacecraft lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops Island, Virginia this afternoon at 12:52pm EDT (1652 GMT). Launching from Pad 0-A, the ORB-2 mission will deliver cargo and experiments […]

• After delays, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket set to launch

  July 11th, 2014

  WALLOPS ISLAND, Va –After being postponed several times due to circumstances involving SpaceX’s CRS-3 payload being temporarily grounded, as well as an AJ-26 engine failure and severe weather, Orbital Sciences Corporation’s (Orbital) Antares booster and Cygnus spacecraft are ready for flight. The ORB-2 mission will launch this weekend from Pad 0-A out of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport […]

• Orbital’s Antares launch slips to July 12 due to severe thunderstorms

  July 9th, 2014

  Another unfortunate set back has delayed the anticipated Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares launch this Friday but this time it is the weather. Due to severe thunderstorms in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) area last night, the scheduled rollout of the rocket was cancelled. The new targeted launch date for the ORB-2 mission to the International […]

• Space Launch System passes Critical Design Review for the core stage

  July 3rd, 2014

  Earlier this week on June 30 and July 1, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) reached another milestone toward one day conducting missions beyond the orbit of Earth. SLS successfully passed what is known as the Critical Design Review (CDR) for its core stage. The review, held at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, ended […]

• NASA’s LDSD flying saucer slated for first near-space flight

  June 27th, 2014

  NASA’s rocket-powered test vehicle is scheduled to take to the skies for its first near-space test from U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) located on Kauai, Hawaii within the next few days. The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project’s flying saucer appearance makes it look like it’s straight out of a Steven Spielberg film. Planned to test […]

• Third delay for Antares causes launch to slip to no-earlier-than July 1

  June 10th, 2014

  With just 8 days from the Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Antares rocket launch, NASA and Orbital have decided to postpone the launch until no earlier than (NET) July 1. The slip is due to an overabundance of caution concerning the Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ-26 rocket engine that failed in an earlier test last month at NASA’s Stennis Space […]

• Testing begins on a new instrument to be added to NASA’s flying observatory

  June 5th, 2014

  NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) is getting outfitted with a new instrument which is set to provide astronomers and scientists with observations only possible from the sky. The high-resolution, mid-infrared spectrograph, called the Echelon-Cross-Echelle Spectrograph (EXES), began testing on the nights of April 7 and 9, according to Matthew Richter, leader of the […]

• Another delay pushes Antares launch to June 17

  June 3rd, 2014

  First postponed due to another delay that set back SpaceX’s CRS-3 launch at Cape Canaveral, NASA and Orbital Sciences Corporation has announced yet another for their upcoming Antares ORB-2 launch. This time, the delay comes from a failed test of the AJ-26 Aerojet Rocketdyne engine. The rocket, first set to launch from Pad 0A out […]

• 2016 InSight mission to Mars given the go ahead for construction

  May 20th, 2014

  This Monday, NASA’s Interior Exploration Using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) team was given the “green light” to begin construction on their spacecraft that will launch to Mars in 2016. Back in February, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of the National Center of Space Studies of France (CNES), signed […]

• Proton Breeze M rocket set to deliver another Express satellite

  May 15th, 2014

  Following a successful launch last month, the Russian Proton Breeze M rocket is set to thunder off of the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome LC-200 this Friday, May 16. The launch is slated to take place at 3:42 a.m. ALMT. This particular Proton rocket will carry the Express-AM4R satellite into orbit for the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC).

• NASA Expedition 39 crew conduct successful, speedy spacewalk

  April 23rd, 2014

  Only three days after the International Space Station (ISS) received their supplies from SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on Easter, Expedition 39 astronauts hurried to replace a backup computer relay system today. Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson ventured outside to the space station’s truss at 9:56 a.m. EDT which marked the start of the spacewalk.