2017 – Page 17 – Spaceflight Now

Modified Russian missile boosts Europe’s newest environmental sentinel to space

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A European satellite that will collect daily air quality measurements over every major city on Earth rode an uprated Russian ballistic missile into orbit Friday.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off at twilight

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Launching into a clear autumn sky at sunset, a Falcon 9 rocket took off Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida and delivered the SES 11/EchoStar 105 communications satellite to orbit.

Q&A with Josef Aschbacher, director of ESA’s Earth observation programs (members only)

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Josef Aschbacher, head of ESA’s Earth observation programs, recently spoke with Spaceflight Now about the importance of the Sentinel 5P satellite mission designed for air quality measurements from space, and discussed increasing data usage from Europe’s Copernicus environmental network, and plans to expand the flagship Earth observation fleet.

Photos: Sentinel 5P environmental satellite prepared for liftoff

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

Europe’s Sentinel 5P satellite, fitted with a Dutch-developed spectrometer to measure gases in Earth’s atmosphere, was fueled and mated to its Russian Rockot booster over the last month at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military complex around 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow.

Live coverage: European environmental satellite launches from Russia

October 13, 2017 Stephen Clark

A modified Russian missile built for nuclear war blasted off on a peaceful mission Friday, targeting placement of a European Earth observation satellite in orbit to measure atmospheric chemistry and global air quality. Liftoff from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia occurred at 0927 GMT (5:27 a.m. EDT).

Preview: Atlas 5 to execute another space-lift mission for U.S. spy satellite agency

October 12, 2017 Justin Ray

An early bird rocket launch from the Florida spaceport will take to the skies before dawn Saturday when an Atlas 5 lofts a classified U.S. government satellite.

Photos: Atlas 5 returns to pad for night owl launch

October 12, 2017 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with the NROL-52 spacecraft aboard moved to the launch pad this morning for liftoff Saturday to serve the national interest. Liftoff is scheduled for 3:31 a.m. EDT (0731 GMT).

Asteroid-bound probe returns Earth-moon family portrait

October 12, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ten days after a swingby to receive a gravitational boost toward its asteroid target, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft turned one of its cameras back toward Earth, resolving its bluish home planet hanging in the void of space accompanied by the moon.

Fact sheet: Atlas 5 rocket to launch the NROL-52 mission

October 12, 2017 Justin Ray

This is our comprehensive fact sheet previewing the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket deployment of the classified NROL-52 payload for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Russian resupply launch aborted, curbing express trip to station

October 12, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch of a Soyuz rocket with a Progress refueling and resupply freighter was aborted seconds before liftoff Thursday in a rare scrub for Russia’s workhorse rocket, delaying the start of a journey to the International Space Station until at least Saturday and thwarting plans to test out a new automated fast-track rendezvous sequence.