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254 articles
U.S. military satellite launched to fortify against missile attacks
A billion-dollar U.S. military satellite rode a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket into orbit Friday night from Cape Canaveral, joining a network of space sentinels warning of threatening missile launches from North Korea, or any other place on the globe.
Atlas 5 team scrubs launch to study troublesome valve
Launch of an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral with a U.S. Air Force infrared surveillance satellite was scrubbed Thursday evening after engineers encountered a balky valve associated with the first stage's liquid oxygen system.
Photos: Ground crews roll 75th Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad
The 75th Atlas 5 rocket rolled to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday, a day before it was scheduled to lift off with a U.S. Air Force satellite to provide warnings of missile launches that might threaten U.S. territories and allies.
VideoLive coverage: Atlas 5 launches from Cape Canaveral with missile warning satellite
The U.S. Air Force's fourth new-generation SBIRS missile warning satellite is headed for geosynchronous orbit after lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 7:48 p.m. EST Friday (0048 GMT Saturday), after a one-day delay caused by a troublesome fill-and-drain valve.
Rocket and satellite preps on track for next Atlas 5 launch
Final assembly of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket slated to blast off Jan. 18 with a U.S. Air Force surveillance satellite designed to detect missile attacks has begun at the booster's Cape Canaveral launch pad.
GOES-S weather satellite arrives in Florida for launch preparations
NOAA's latest weather satellite, a new-generation geostationary observatory named GOES-S, landed at the Kennedy Space Center's former space shuttle runway Monday aboard a U.S. Air Force transport jet, ready to begin final preparations for launch March 1 on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
SpaceX, ULA win NASA contracts to launch Earth observation satellites
NASA has selected SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to deliver to orbit a joint U.S.-European oceanography mission and the next land imaging satellite in the Landsat series on Falcon 9 and Atlas 5 rockets.
Launch operators expect minimal delays from Hurricane Irma
SpaceX and United Launch Alliance expect to resume launches with little or no delay after Hurricane Irma veered west of Cape Canaveral last weekend, sparing the launch base from the storm's most extreme damage.
Sierra Nevada confirms ULA will launch first two Dream Chaser cargo missions
Sierra Nevada and United Launch Alliance have announced the most powerful version of the Atlas 5 rocket, with five strap-on boosters and a twin-engine upper stage, will send the first two Dream Chaser cargo missions to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral in 2020 and 2021, a schedule that still must be confirmed by NASA.
InSight lander’s troubled seismometer passes major test
A balky interplanetary seismic instrument that ran into technical problems in 2015, forcing a two-year delay in the launch of NASA's InSight lander to Mars, cleared a major test last week after engineers redesigned part of the sensor package, boosting confidence that the mission will be ready to blast off in May 2018.