Heliophysics – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

NASA managers clear Pegasus rocket for launch with ICON satellite

November 6, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA and Northrop Grumman managers at the Kennedy Space Center decided Tuesday to press ahead with final preparations to launch a NASA scientific research satellite early Wednesday aboard an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket off Florida’s east coast.

Parker Solar Probe sets records during first encounter with the sun

November 6, 2018 Stephen Clark

Less than three months after its fiery departure from Cape Canaveral, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flew within 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) of the sun Monday for the $1.5 billion mission’s first close-up solar encounter.

Pegasus launch set for no earlier than Wednesday, but data review continues

November 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

The launch of a NASA research satellite built to probe conditions along the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space has been tentatively rescheduled for no earlier than Wednesday, pending the conclusion of a review of unexpected data signatures discovered on the first stage of the mission’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket.

Pegasus rocket launch postponed

October 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

Continuing a series of delays keeping NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer on Earth, NASA announced Tuesday that the satellite’s launch aboard an air-dropped Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket will not occur as scheduled Friday.

Photos: More up-close shots of Parker Solar Probe’s launch

August 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

These images from United Launch Alliance and NASA photographers recorded the liftoff of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 12 with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.

Rocketcam replay of Delta 4-Heavy rocket’s launch with solar probe

August 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

This video released by United Launch Alliance shows the Delta 4-Heavy rocket’s predawn liftoff Aug. 12 from the perspective of a downward-facing camera, capturing dazzling views of the fiery takeoff and the dramatic separation of the launcher’s two hydrogen-fueled boosters.

First milestones accomplished on NASA’s newly-launched Parker Solar Probe

August 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

Space missions dispatched into the solar system often have journeys lasting years before reaching a scientific payoff, but NASA’s Parker Solar Probe launched last weekend on a speedy departure from planet Earth is already getting ready to sweep closer to the sun than any spacecraft in history during a flyby later this year.

Video replay: Parker Solar Probe launches atop Delta 4-Heavy

August 15, 2018 Spaceflight Now

Watch a video replay of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 37 atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy on August 12, 2018.

Photos: Delta 4-Heavy takes off from Cape Canaveral

August 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

Driven by three RS-68A main engines, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off early Sunday from Cape Canaveral carrying NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on a historic mission to study the sun.

NASA launches Parker Solar Probe on historic mission

August 12, 2018 William Harwood

Running a day late, a United Launch Alliance heavy-lift Delta 4 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral early Sunday, boosting NASA’s $1.5 billion Parker Solar Probe into space on a daring seven-year mission to “touch the sun” with repeated trips through the star’s blazing outer atmosphere.