Forecasters predict mostly clear skies, light winds and comfortable temperatures for Sunday’s launch of a Falcon 9 rocket with a NOAA satellite designed to warn of solar storms that could disrupt navigation and communication technology on Earth.
The massive U.S. Navy communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral two weeks ago has completed prescribed maneuvers to reach geosynchronous orbit and successfully unfurled its umbrella-like antenna reflectors.
Flights of the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket are expected to continue this year despite proclamations the satellite launcher program is suspended, officials said this week.
Fresh imagery from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft reveal the icy dwarf planet Ceres in new detail, showing surface features coming into focus as the probe nears insertion into orbit for a comprehensive survey of the unexplored world.
A NASA spacecraft under construction for launch in 2016 to retrieve samples from asteroid Bennu could benefit from an extra load of fuel, allowing an extended stay at the asteroid or a return to Earth a year early.
“We had a terrific ride into space aboard the United Launch Alliance’s Delta 2 vehicle. They deposited us exactly where we wanted to be with with accuracy and precision,” said Kent Kellogg, NASA’s SMAP project manager.
The Atlas rocket to launch four formation-flying spacecraft for NASA in March began to take shape Wednesday at the assembly building adjacent to the Complex 41 pad.
Less than six months from a historic close-up of Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft has glimpsed its distant target at a range of 126 million miles, and better pictures are coming.
A new space weather observatory to be stationed a million miles from Earth has been enclosed inside the nose cone of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff Sunday from Cape Canaveral.
Engineers have put the finishing touches on a prototype spaceship representing a leap in European space technology, aiming for liftoff Feb. 11 for a flight 260 miles into space and back to Earth for a pinpoint splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.