Orbital ATK – Page 8 – Spaceflight Now

Ground equipment problem slips next Falcon 9 launch to Friday

March 27, 2018 Stephen Clark

Trouble with a piece of ground equipment used for testing of the 10 Iridium communications satellites aboard the next Falcon 9 rocket launch has forced a 24-hour delay in the mission to Friday, officials said Tuesday.

Launch preps advance in California for next Falcon 9 flight

March 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s fifth launch of replacement spacecraft for Iridium’s global voice and data communications network is set for March 29 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a flight that Iridium hopes will signal the start of a brisk pace of West Coast missions to complete deployment of the telecom company’s initial 75-satellite constellation this summer.

Investigators say erroneous navigation input led Ariane 5 rocket off course

February 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

A bad input to the Ariane 5 rocket’s guidance system that was missed during pre-launch quality control checks caused the launcher to deviate from its expected flight path and place two commercial communications satellites in the wrong orbit Jan. 25, Arianespace announced Friday.

Exoplanet-hunting satellite arrives in Florida for April launch

February 16, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final testing, fueling and attachment to a Falcon 9 launcher for liftoff in mid-April, a delay of nearly one month to allow SpaceX additional time to prepare the rocket for the mission.

NASA gears up for brisk launch pace, starting with weather satellite

February 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

Engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center tasked with overseeing launches of scientific satellites and interplanetary probes will be responsible later this year for ensuring six major missions safely get into space over a span of a little more than six months, beginning with the launch of NOAA’s new GOES-S weather observatory on an Atlas 5 rocket March 1.

Photos: Falcon 9 soars into space with GovSat 1

February 4, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s second Falcon 9 flight of the year lifted off Jan. 31 from Cape Canaveral with GovSat 1, a U.S.-built satellite funded by SES and the government of Luxembourg to provide secure communications for military and civil defense authorities.

SpaceX rocket flies on 60th anniversary of first U.S. satellite launch

January 31, 2018 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher boosted a 4.7-ton military-grade communications satellite for SES and the Luxembourg government toward a perch 22,300 miles over the equator following a spectacular late afternoon liftoff Tuesday from Florida’s Space Coast, clearing the last mission off the launch company’s manifest before the long-awaited debut of the massive Falcon Heavy rocket.

Video: Replay of the launch of GovSat 1 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket

January 31, 2018 Stephen Clark

The GovSat 1 communications satellite for SES and the government of Luxembourg lifted off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT) Wednesday.

Falcon 9 launches with GovSat 1 as seen from Kennedy Space Center (members only)

January 31, 2018 Spaceflight Now

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT) on 31 January from Cape Canaveral with the GovSat 1 communications satellite.

SpaceX scrubs Falcon 9 launch to replace second stage sensor

January 30, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s launch director halted a countdown Tuesday to replace a sensor on the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket set to blast off with the GovSat 1 communications craft, the product of a joint venture between the commercial satellite operator SES and the government of Luxembourg.