2015 – Page 15 – Spaceflight Now

Two Antares failure probes produce different results

November 1, 2015 Stephen Clark

An Orbital ATK investigation into last year’s Antares rocket crash in Virginia identified a decades-old manufacturing defect inside an AJ26 engine turbopump as the most likely cause of the failure, but a team of NASA engineers was not so sure in their report.

A month to remember for ULA and the Atlas 5 rocket

November 1, 2015 Justin Ray

Four weeks, three launches, two coasts. October was an unprecedented month for United Launch Alliance and its venerable workhorse rocket.

Photos: New GPS navigation satellite powered from Earth

November 1, 2015 Justin Ray

A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight to deploy the Global Positioning System 2F-11 navigation satellite.

Recap story: Three Atlas 5 launch successes in one month

October 31, 2015 Justin Ray

Completing an October to remember, the third Atlas 5 rocket launch in just 29 days thundered into space Saturday, this time to replace an aging satellite in the Global Positioning System.

Cassini images just a taste of Enceladus flyby science return

October 31, 2015 Stephen Clark

Days after a fleeting plunge through the icy plumes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is broadcasting tantalizing data back to Earth for scientists eager to address the moon’s prospects for life.

Video: Halloween liftoff of Atlas 5 with GPS 2F-11

October 31, 2015 Justin Ray

A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the Global Positioning System 2F-11 navigation spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

STS-114 Post-Flight Presentation

October 31, 2015 Spaceflight Now

The crew of STS-114, the first shuttle flight after the 2003 Columbia accident, present video from their mission and answer questions from the audience at Space Center Houston. (Membership required.)

ULA’s Atlas 5 wins contract to launch NASA data relay satellite

October 30, 2015 Stephen Clark

The last of NASA’s current-generation tracking and data relay satellites designed to link mission control with the International Space Station has been assigned for launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket in October 2017, officials announced Friday.

OTD…Oct. 30 and STS-61A

October 30, 2015 Justin Ray

#OTD in 1985…Challenger launched the first German Spacelab

A crescent Pluto shines like a jewel in the Kuiper Belt

October 29, 2015 Stephen Clark

An image released Thursday, taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft minutes after zipping past Pluto in July, shows the backlit world on a new scale, revealing rugged mountains, glacial plains and deep layers of atmospheric haze.