2014 – Page 26 – Spaceflight Now

H-2A rolls out to launch pad

October 6, 2014 Stephen Clark

Photos of the H-2A rocket’s rollout to the launch pad at the Tanegashima Space Center with the Himawari 8 weather satellite.

H-2A rocket diagram

October 6, 2014 Stephen Clark

The H-2A rocket, manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, features twin solid rocket boosters and two stages burning a mix of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen propellants.

H-2A rocket ground track

October 6, 2014 Stephen Clark

Check out the ground track the H-2A rocket will follow on its launch of the Himawari 8 weather satellite.

Candidate landing sites selected for ESA Mars rover

October 5, 2014 Stephen Clark

The European Space Agency has announced four candidate landing sites for the ExoMars rover, as a deadline looms to secure full funding for the mission in time for a scheduled launch to the red planet in 2018.

UrtheCast says it will be largest commercial ISS user

October 4, 2014 Stephen Clark

Officials with Canadian Earth observation company UrtheCast, which owns two cameras on the International Space Station’s Russian service module, outlined plans to install a remote sensing camera and a radar imaging payload on the outpost’s U.S.-owned Tranquility module in 2017.

Orbital weeks away from Antares first stage decision

October 3, 2014 Stephen Clark

Orbital Sciences Corp. plans to select a long-term propulsion supplier for the Antares rocket used to launch cargo to the International Space Station in the next few weeks, in time to include a potentially redesigned launcher in a bid for a follow-on NASA resupply contract.

Photo gallery: Delta 4-Heavy moved to launch pad

October 2, 2014 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket for Exploration Flight Test-1 is rolled to the launch pad and lifted to the vertical position.

Orion’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket moved to launch pad

October 1, 2014 Spaceflight Now

The booster rocket that will launch NASA’s next-generation Orion space capsule on a two-orbit, four-hour shakedown cruise in December has been rolled to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.

Boeing, SpaceX told to stop work under crew contracts

October 1, 2014 Stephen Clark

NASA has directed Boeing and SpaceX to halt activities under contracts awarded last month to build commercial space taxis to ferry astronauts to the Space Station while the U.S. Government Accountability Office reviews a protest of NASA’s decision filed by Sierra Nevada.

Aerojet Rocketdyne touts AR1 engine for Atlas 5

October 1, 2014 William Harwood

Aerojet Rocketdyne is pressing ahead with development of a powerful new rocket engine that company officials believe will be an attractive alternative to the Russian-built RD-180 engine that now powers the first stage of United Launch Alliance’s workhorse Atlas 5 booster.