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107 articles
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.
Q&A with Claire Leon, director of launch enterprise directorate at SMC
The head of the launch enterprise directorate at the U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, Claire Leon, spoke with reporters March 15 about the military's award of a GPS launch contract to SpaceX, and she discussed plans for more head-to-head launch contract competitions in the coming months.
SpaceX nabs GPS launch contract as Air Force opens more missions for bidding
The U.S. Air Force this week awarded SpaceX a contract to launch a Global Positioning System satellite in early 2019, concluding the second of as many as 15 competitions the military plans to run over the next year to pit SpaceX against United Launch Alliance for rights to lift defense and intelligence-gathering payloads into orbit.
NASA has no plans to buy more Soyuz seats, and it may be too late anyway
NASA is sure enough that Boeing and SpaceX can safely launch astronauts to the International Space Station by early 2019 to hold off paying Russia to keep flying U.S. crews to the research complex, and one official says a deadline to order parts for new Russian Soyuz crew capsules may have already passed.
Containment of Vandenberg wildfire begins as hundreds of firefighters battle
United Launch Alliance technicians were allowed to return to the Atlas 5 pad Tuesday as firefighters continued to wage air and ground campaigns against the wildfire burning at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Uncontrolled wildfire at Vandenberg Air Force Base continues to rage
The escalating wildfire at Vandenberg Air Force Base grew even larger Monday despite the round-the-clock efforts of firefighters trying to bring the blaze under control before it threatens United Launch Alliance and SpaceX launch pads used by Atlas 5, Delta 4 and Falcon 9 rockets.
Quick work saved the OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission from nearby explosion
Engineers scrambled to keep NASA's billion-dollar asteroid-bound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on track for its launch last week in the aftermath of an explosion a mile away at SpaceX's launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
Boeing nears fix for CST-100 Starliner design hitch
Boeing engineers are close to resolving concerns with the mass and aerodynamic shape of the company's CST-100 Starliner commercial crew carrier, and officials are optimistic the spaceship will be ready to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station in early 2018.
SpaceX hopes to sell used Falcon 9 boosters for as low as $40 million
SpaceX intends to cut the price of a Falcon 9 rocket launch by up to 30 percent when flying with reused first stage boosters, an achievement the company still hopes to demonstrate before the end of the year, SpaceX's president said recently.
Pentagon opens investigation into contracts with ULA
The U.S. Defense Department's internal watchdog has opened a probe into whether the Pentagon's contracts with United Launch Alliance were properly awarded after a former ULA executive implied the government rigged a recent procurement in favor of the company.