Orbital ATK – Page 4 – Spaceflight Now

Photos: Antares rocket poised for liftoff from Virginia’s Eastern Shore

May 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

A 139-foot-tall Antares rocket is slated for a predawn launch Monday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, carrying a Cygnus supply ship heading for the International Space Station.

Antares rocket rolls to Virginia launch pad, liftoff delayed to Monday

May 18, 2018 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK transferred an Antares rocket and Cygnus supply ship to their launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore late Thursday for a liftoff now targeted for Monday with nearly 7,400 pounds of cargo heading for the International Space Station.

New target dates set for next two Falcon 9 launches

May 16, 2018 Stephen Clark

The launch of five commercial Iridium message relay satellites and a pair of U.S.-German orbiting geophysics probes on a Falcon 9 rocket from California has been delayed three days to May 22, and a week-long schedule slip to May 31 is expected for the next SpaceX flight from Cape Canaveral with an SES communications payload.

NASA’s new planet-hunting satellite begins climb into science orbit

April 25, 2018 Stephen Clark

Looping back near Earth for the first time since its launch one week ago, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite fired its thrusters early Wednesday to begin boosting its orbit toward the moon for a May 17 gravity assist maneuver that will help catapult the probe into its unique science orbit.

After “terrific” launch, TESS nears first major orbit-raising burn

April 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s new planet-hunting TESS observatory completed its first post-launch thruster firing Saturday, setting up for a big boost Wednesday that will send the spacecraft toward the moon for a flyby next month, the next maneuvers in a two-month process to reach the mission’s final science orbit in mid-June.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with TESS

April 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

Look back on last week’s blastoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

Photos: A look back at last weekend’s Atlas 5 launch

April 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

The most powerful configuration of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket blasted off April 14 from Cape Canaveral, hauling multiple U.S. Air Force satellites to a perch high above the equator after piercing a clear evening sky over Florida’s Space Coast with 2.6 million pounds of thrust.

Orbital ATK names new launcher, selects upper stage engine

April 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK’s proposed rocket to answer the U.S. Air Force’s desire for two families of satellite launchers with U.S.-made propulsion systems will be named OmegA, and the company has selected the cryogenic Aerojet Rocketdyne RL10 engine to power the vehicle’s upper stage, officials announced this week.

Falcon 9 / TESS launch replays

April 19, 2018 Spaceflight Now

Cameras in various locations at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center capture the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NASA’s TESS planet-hunting telescope.

All-sky surveyor launched from Cape Canaveral on the hunt for exoplanets

April 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, built to find planets around other stars that are close enough for detailed follow-ups by future telescopes, launched Wednesday into a unique high-altitude orbit on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.