Northrop Grumman – Page 15

Orion data recorders come with return-to-sender instructions

July 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA has a plan to retrieve 12 ejectable data recorders released from an Orion test capsule in the waters off Cape Canaveral following a launch abort test Tuesday, but local boaters and beachgoers could still find the floating orange devices.

Live coverage: NASA conducts Orion abort test over Cape Canaveral

July 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA and industry teams at Cape Canaveral launched an Orion capsule on a three-minute atmospheric test flight Tuesday to prove the spaceship’s ability to escape from an exploding rocket during launch, demonstrating a key safety feature before astronauts ride the vehicle into deep space. Liftoff occurred at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT).

Critical abort test of NASA’s Orion crew capsule set for Tuesday

July 1, 2019 Stephen Clark

A three-minute test flight Tuesday morning over Cape Canaveral will help ensure NASA’s Orion crew capsule — the vehicle being built to carry astronauts back to the moon — can safely escape from a catastrophic failure on launch.

Northrop Grumman looking into dramatic nozzle anomaly on Omega rocket motor

May 30, 2019 William Harwood

Near the end of a ground-shaking test firing of Northrop Grumman’s solid-propellant Castor 600 rocket motor — the first stage of a new booster being designed to launch spy satellites and other national security payloads — a major part of the rocket’s big nozzle appeared to break apart, littering the test site with shards of debris.

Atlas 5 rocket, U.S. Air Force satellite arrive at Cape Canaveral for June launch

April 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

Atlas 5 rocket hardware and a U.S. Air Force communications satellite have arrived at Cape Canaveral for United Launch Alliance’s next mission, scheduled for liftoff June 27.

Cygnus supply ship delivers 3.8-ton cargo load to International Space Station

April 19, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA flight engineer Anne McClain grappled Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus supply ship with the International Space Station’s robotic arm Friday, marking the automated cargo freighter’s arrival after an abbreviated day-and-a-half-long journey from a launch pad in Virginia with nearly 7,600 pounds of experiments, food and provisions.

Photos: Stratolaunch’s giant airplane flies over Mojave

April 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

Stratolaunch’s rocket carrier jet, the largest aircraft in the world by wing span, took off Saturday morning from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California for its first test flight.

World’s largest airplane completes first flight

April 13, 2019 Stephen Clark

Built for hauling rockets aloft to launch satellites, the world’s biggest airplane landed Saturday after a widely-anticipated test flight over California’s Mojave Desert, six months after the death of billionaire benefactor Paul Allen clouded the future of the project.

Rocket Lab launches DARPA research satellite

March 29, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket climbed into orbit from New Zealand Thursday (U.S. time) with an experimental payload for a U.S. military research and development agency to demonstrate the performance of a compact, deployable antenna that could expand the communications capabilities of future small satellites.

Rocket Lab launch with DARPA’s R3D2 satellite rescheduled for Thursday

March 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

Rocket Lab’s launch team canceled a launch attempt Sunday in New Zealand after discovering a misbehaving video transmitter on the Electron booster set to loft a small U.S. military satellite into orbit to test an innovative antenna design. After replacing the transmitter, Rocket Lab announced the launch is set for Thursday (U.S. time) to wait for better weather.