News Archive / Tagged: Lead Stories

• Starship ‘SN5’ takes flight as SpaceX marches forward

  Cullen DesforgesAugust 4th, 2020

  For the second time in just three days, SpaceX has succeeded in showcasing their team’s capabilities and readiness to redefine the future of commercial space travel. Earlier today, August 4, 2020, the company completed a test flight of its Starship prototype vehicle, dubbed SN5, ‘hopping’ to an altitude of 150 meters above its rocket development […]

• Demo-2 Crew Dragon splashes down after 2-month mission

  Derek RichardsonAugust 2nd, 2020

  After two months aboard the International Space Station, Dragonship Endeavour with its two-person astronaut crew is back on Earth, having splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida.

• Weather being watched ahead of Demo-2 return

  Theresa CrossJuly 31st, 2020

  SpaceX and NASA, in preparation for the upcoming undocking of the DEMO-2 Crew Dragon from the International Space Station, are continuing to monitor weather patterns in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

• Perseverance rover launches on its journey to explore Mars

  Matt HaskellJuly 30th, 2020

  CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – At 7:50 a.m. EDT, the ULA Atlas V rocket lifted off on its journey to Mars with NASA’s Perseverance rover, and Ingenuity helicopter.

• NASA, ULA on the eve of launch of Perseverance Mars rover

  Matt HaskellJuly 29th, 2020

  Years of hard work and preparation have culminated in NASA’s newest Mars rover, Perseverance, sitting  atop its United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral, set to leave Earth as early as 7:50 a.m. EDT (11:50 UTC) Thursday morning.

• Mars 2020 Flight Readiness Review complete, Launch Readiness Review tomorrow

  Theresa CrossJuly 26th, 2020

  Preparations continue at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for the upcoming Mars 2020 launch, currently scheduled to liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 on Thursday, July 30, 2020. Most recently completed was the Flight Readiness Review, the critical review step which confirmed the readiness of the equipment, teams and resources required […]

• First GEM 63 solid motors delivered to Cape Canaveral

  Matt HaskellJuly 24th, 2020

  Northrop Grumman has delivered the first 3 of their new 63-inch Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM 63) rocket motors to Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in preparation for their first launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

• Progress MS-15 cargo ship takes ‘express lane’ to ISS

  Derek RichardsonJuly 23rd, 2020

  The Russian Progress MS-15 cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station in a reported record time to deliver supplies and experiments to the Expedition 63 crew, despite a last-second misalignment.

• Spacewalkers set the stage for future ISS additions

  Derek RichardsonJuly 21st, 2020

  NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken completed their fourth spacewalk in less than a month to upgrade the International Space Station, setting the stage for future additions to the 20-year-old outpost.

• SpaceX successfully catches both Anasis-2 fairing halves

  Matt HaskellJuly 21st, 2020

  For the very first time in the history of the storied spaceflight provider SpaceX, both Falcon 9 payload fairing halves have been successfully caught mid-flight by the companies twin recovery ships.

• Minotaur IV sucessfully sends NROL-129 into blue, Virginia skies

  Steve HammerJuly 15th, 2020

  Virginia based Northrop Grumman today launched classified mission NROL-129 for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) aboard a Minotaur IV rocket from launchpad 0B at The Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), adjacent to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. The countdown clock was held at T-minus 16 minutes for 46 minutes, allowing for multiple […]

• Northrop Grumman set to loft NROL-129 atop Minotaur IV

  Sean CostelloJuly 14th, 2020

  Teams from Northrop Grumman, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the Mid-Atlantic Spaceport (MARS) are all reporting as being poised and ready to launch the NROL-129 mission tomorrow, July 15, 2020, atop a Minotaur IV rocket. Even the weather appears to be supportive, with the latest forecast indicating only a 10% chance of violating acceptable […]

• OneWeb to receive USD $1 Billion from United Kingdom, Bharti Global

  Theresa CrossJuly 8th, 2020

  On July 3, OneWeb announced that a consortium of Her Majesty’s Government (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global Limited had committed to provide more than USD$1 billion to acquire OneWeb and fund the full restart of its business operations.

• SpaceX set to launch third GPS-III satellite, SV03

  Matt HaskellJune 30th, 2020

  SpaceX is poised to launch the next satellite in the GPS-III series atop its proven Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, marking the newest launch of the new satellite constellation.

• Perseverance mission scientist outlines rover’s instruments, mission

  Laurel KornfeldJune 23rd, 2020

  One month before the scheduled launch of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, Roger Wiens, who serves as both principal investigator of its SuperCam laser instrument and as co-investigator of its SHERLOC team, discussed the mission’s science instruments and its purpose in a virtual webinar presented by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI).