Lockheed Martin – Page 37 – Spaceflight Now

Engineers finding lessons in nearly flawless Orion test flight

February 20, 2015 Stephen Clark

December’s first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion crew capsule was almost perfect, but engineers are carefully analyzing 600 gigabytes of data recorded on the spacecraft’s trip 3,600 miles into space to see how future missions to an asteroid and Mars could be improved.

New Navy satellite spreads wings, unfurls antennas in orbit

February 6, 2015 Justin Ray

The massive U.S. Navy communications satellite launched from Cape Canaveral two weeks ago has completed prescribed maneuvers to reach geosynchronous orbit and successfully unfurled its umbrella-like antenna reflectors.

Bonus fuel could change OSIRIS-REx flight plan

February 5, 2015 Stephen Clark

A NASA spacecraft under construction for launch in 2016 to retrieve samples from asteroid Bennu could benefit from an extra load of fuel, allowing an extended stay at the asteroid or a return to Earth a year early.

Lockheed Martin begins taking apart first flown Orion capsule

January 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Orion spacecraft achieved all but two of 87 demo objectives on its first orbital flight last month, but details on the capsule’s performance will require dismantling the spaceship’s outer skin in a careful procedure designed to keep most of the Orion prototype intact for future testing.

Photos: Navy satellite shrouded for launch

December 23, 2014 Justin Ray

The sophisticated U.S. Navy mobile communications satellite to launch Jan. 20 has been wrapped up in the Atlas 5 rocket’s nose cone for the holidays