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Engineers say goodbye to society-changing Delta 2 rocket
When the first Delta 2 rocket took off on Valentine's Day 1989, ideas like navigating by smartphone and driving robots on Mars were science fiction. More than 150 launches over the last 30 years helped change all that.
VideoLive coverage: Final Delta 2 rocket launches from California
The final flight of a Delta 2 rocket, a mainstay of the U.S. launch industry for nearly 30 years, began at 6:02 a.m. PDT (9:02 a.m. EDT; 1302 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with NASA's ICESat 2 Earth science satellite.
Scientists eager to renew global ice measurements with ICESat 2 mission
The satellite awaiting launch early Saturday from California aboard the final flight of the venerable Delta 2 rocket should allow scientists to more precisely track changes in our planet's ice sheets, using six green laser beams to chart the height and slope of polar ice and glaciers, providing a key input into climate change research.
Installation of ice-measuring satellite caps assembly of last Delta 2 rocket
NASA's ICESat 2 satellite has been bolted atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as ground teams prepare for the final liftoff of the workhorse launcher Sept. 15.
Photos: Final Delta 2 rocket assembled for launch in California
The step-by-step stacking of United Launch Alliance's final Delta 2 rocket was completed in June at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for liftoff Sept. 15 with an Earth science satellite for NASA.
Tanking test marks resumption of Delta 2 rocket’s final launch campaign
A team of United Launch Alliance and NASA engineers worked through Delta 2 launch day fueling procedures during a simulated countdown Wednesday for what should be the second-to-last time before the venerable rocket's final liftoff next month from California's Central Coast.
First interplanetary CubeSats already setting records in deep space
Two CubeSats developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched May 5 with the InSight mission to Mars have deployed their miniaturized antennas and captured a distant family portrait of the Earth and the moon.
VideoRocketcam replay of InSight’s launch to Mars
United Launch Alliance has released a replay of the May 5 liftoff of NASA's InSight mission to Mars aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, as viewed by aft- and forward-facing cameras on the two-stage launch vehicle.
Photos: Shrouded in fog, Atlas 5 takes flight from Vandenberg
A layer of fog intruding on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California kept nearby observers from seeing any sign of Saturday's predawn launch of an Atlas 5 rocket carrying a robotic NASA probe to Mars. The only images of the Atlas 5's fiery takeoff came from remote cameras placed at the launch pad, or from distant viewing points away from the poor visibility.
After foggy departure, it’s clear sailing to Mars for InSight lander
Making a fiery climb into a foggy sky Saturday over California's Central Coast, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket dispatched NASA's InSight lander on a 301-million-mile voyage to Mars with a package of European-built instruments to probe the inside of the Red Planet.