Spaceflight Insider

News Archive / Tagged: Pacific Missile Range Facility

  • Super Strypi fails on inaugural launch

    Joe LatrellNovember 4th, 2015

    The inaugural flight of a new breed of expendable launchers ended prematurely when the Super Strypi vehicle broke up in mid-flight. According to the range officers on duty, the rocket began to tumble approximately one minute after liftoff resulting in the loss of the vehicle and its 13 small satellites.

  • NASA reveals early results of LDSD “flying saucer” test flight

    Rae Botsford EndAugust 8th, 2014

    NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) “flying saucer” test vehicle successfully reached near-space in late June, allowing them to test certain Martian landing conditions, and NASA held a video-rich briefing about it today, August 8.

  • NASA’s LDSD is grounded due to unfavorable weather conditions

    SpaceFlight InsiderJune 13th, 2014

    Due to weather constraints, NASA’s new flying saucer-shaped, Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) proposed launch has been canceled. In a media teleconference yesterday, June 12, Mark Alder (LDSD Project Manager) and Ian Clark (LDSD Principal Investigator) explained the need for a delay and outlined the project’s next steps.

  • NASA’s Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) is ready for testing

    SpaceFlight InsiderJune 5th, 2014

    NASA has developed a new, innovative vehicle capable of landing larger payloads in environments such as the thin Martian atmosphere. The Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) is a saucer-shaped, rocket-powered vehicle is now complete and ready for testing at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii.