A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deliver the U.S. Air Force’s second GPS 3-series navigation satellite into an elliptical transfer orbit nearly two hours after liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
Liftoff is scheduled during a launch window opening at 9:00:30 a.m. EDT (1300:30 GMT) Thursday. The window extends to 9:27 a.m. EDT (1327 GMT).
A three-minute test flight Tuesday morning over Cape Canaveral will help ensure NASA’s Orion crew capsule — the vehicle being built to carry astronauts back to the moon — can safely escape from a catastrophic failure on launch.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will send one of Viasat’s next-generation broadband satellites toward geostationary orbit from Cape Canaveral some time between 2020 and 2022, the companies announced Monday.
Mike Laidley leads development of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch system, a rocket the commercial space company hopes will provide a foothold in the lucrative market to launch U.S. military satellites, a business currently dominated by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.