This photo gallery shows NASA’s SMAP spacecraft arriving at the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base’s Space Launch Complex 2 and being hoisted atop the United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket.
Installation of the Delta 2 rocket’s nose cone was completed Tuesday in the cleanroom of Vandenberg’s Space Launch Complex 2 gantry as preparations continue for the SMAP mission’s liftoff next Thursday.
Making a scientific measurement of planet Earth on a global scale never before attempted by NASA is the objective of an environment satellite to be mounted atop its booster rocket Tuesday in California.
Navigation satellites, communications spacecraft, classified missions, NASA science projects and the Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo ship destined for the International Space Station are on the United Launch Alliance manifest for the new year.
A record number of Atlas 5 launches, the return of Delta 2 and a Delta 4-Heavy at the dawn of a new space exploration era highlighted 2014 for United Launch Alliance.
NASA’s innovative soil moisture mapper, a new environmental satellite launching in January, has been fueled up for blastoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The Mobile Service Tower at LC-17B is rolled away from the Delta 2 rocket that launched NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission on its way to the red planet on December 4, 1996. This video includes footage shot inside the blockhouse at the launch pad.
Mars Pathfinder Mission Director Tony Spear narrates a video describing the launch preparations for the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft and the Sojourner rover.