Atlas 5 – Page 6 – Spaceflight Now

Atlas 5 launch from Cape Canaveral scheduled for next week

October 27, 2020 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance teams mounted a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office on top of an Atlas 5 rocket Monday at Cape Canaveral in preparation for a liftoff scheduled just after sunset Nov. 3.

Commander of first piloted Starliner test flight steps down from mission

October 7, 2020 William Harwood

Christopher Ferguson, commander of the final space shuttle flight and now a Boeing executive, has stepped down as commander of the first piloted test flight of the company’s troubled CST-100 Starliner commercial spacecraft, he and Boeing announced Wednesday. He has been replaced by NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore.

Stacking of next Atlas 5 rocket begins at Cape Canaveral

September 11, 2020 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance technicians positioned the first stage for the next Atlas 5 rocket on a mobile launch platform Friday at Cape Canaveral, a key step in preparations for an October mission that will debut a new solid-fueled booster design.

Coronavirus delays push back launch of next Landsat to September 2021

September 7, 2020 Stephen Clark

The launch of the next Landsat land imaging mission — a joint project between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey — has been delayed until around September 2021 after the effects of the coronavirus pandemic slowed work on the spacecraft in Arizona, NASA officials said.

Boeing plans second Starliner test flight in December or January

August 25, 2020 Stephen Clark

Boeing said Tuesday it is “making excellent progress” toward launching a second unpiloted test flight of its Starliner crew capsule to the International Space Station by the end of this year or in early January, setting the stage for the first Starliner demonstration mission with astronauts in mid-2021.

ULA, SpaceX win landmark multibillion-dollar launch agreements with Pentagon

August 7, 2020 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance and SpaceX beat out Northrop Grumman and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin for billions of dollars in U.S. military rocket contracts, and will share the load in launching the Pentagon’s highest-priority national security space missions through 2027, officials announced Friday.

Video: Rocketcams show Mars-bound rover’s ride into space

August 6, 2020 Stephen Clark

Cameras mounted on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket show the fiery ride into space for NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover after taking off from Florida’s Space Coast.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket catapults into space with Mars rover

August 5, 2020 Stephen Clark

Carrying a $2.7 billion NASA mission to Mars, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket took off July 30 from Cape Canaveral and fired into a summer sky powered by four powerful solid rocket boosters and a kerosene-burning main engine.

Mars 2020 spacecraft resumes normal operations after post-launch safe mode

July 31, 2020 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission resumed normal operations Friday after cold temperatures forced the spacecraft into space mode soon after a successful launch from Cape Canaveral.

NASA’s Perseverance rover leaves Earth bound for Mars

July 30, 2020 Stephen Clark

Persevering through a global pandemic, a last-minute earthquake, and the trials of a rocket launch, NASA’s next Mars rover — named Perseverance — took off from Cape Canaveral Thursday on a nearly seven-month journey to the Red Planet with sophisticated science instruments, technology to collect samples for to Earth, and the first interplanetary helicopter that could produce a “Wright Brothers moment” on another world.