For its 70th launch in 14 years, the Atlas 5 rocket carried the NROL-79 payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
See earlier NROL-79 coverage.
Our Atlas archive.
For its 70th launch in 14 years, the Atlas 5 rocket carried the NROL-79 payload into space for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Credit: United Launch Alliance
See earlier NROL-79 coverage.
Our Atlas archive.
On the mission’s third launch attempt, SpaceX sent a Falcon Heavy rocket aloft at 8:26 p.m. EDT Sunday (0026 UTC Monday) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The nearly five-hour mission to a near-geosynchronous orbit carried the first satellite for the ViaSat 3 space-based internet network, along with two smaller rideshare payloads.
The core stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday evening aboard a specially-built barge, completing a voyage by sea from a test site in Mississippi to begin final preparations for the first flight of NASA’s Artemis Moon program. Ground crews plan to transport the core stage into the Vehicle Assembly Building beginning around 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT) Thursday to join its two solid rocket boosters.
© 1999-2025 Spaceflight Now Inc