SBIRS – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: Atlas 5 launches from Cape Canaveral with missile warning satellite

January 17, 2018 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force’s fourth new-generation SBIRS missile warning satellite is headed for geosynchronous orbit after lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 7:48 p.m. EST Friday (0048 GMT Saturday), after a one-day delay caused by a troublesome fill-and-drain valve.

Rocket and satellite preps on track for next Atlas 5 launch

December 29, 2017 Stephen Clark

Final assembly of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket slated to blast off Jan. 18 with a U.S. Air Force surveillance satellite designed to detect missile attacks has begun at the booster’s Cape Canaveral launch pad.

Intelsat satellite in service after overcoming engine trouble

January 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

An Intelsat communications satellite launched last August entered service Sunday, about three months later than planned after a main engine problem forced engineers to position the craft in geostationary orbit using backup low-thrust rocket jets.

Photos: Atlas 5 launches SBIRS GEO Flight 3

January 22, 2017 Justin Ray

Launching a highly sophisticated infrared surveillance satellite for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thunders away from Cape Canaveral.

Photos: Another SBIRS soars atop Atlas 5

January 21, 2017 Justin Ray

The Atlas 5 rocket lifted the SBIRS GEO Flight 3 missile warning sentinel into orbit, advancing space technology for surveillance and security.

Photos: First ULA mission of the year blasts off

January 21, 2017 Justin Ray

Marking United Launch Alliance’s first rocket flight in 2017, beginning its year of national security and science-enabling missions, the Atlas 5 rocket departs Cape Canaveral carrying the SBIRS GEO Flight 3 satellite.

Atlas 5 rocket successfully delivers vital national asset into space

January 21, 2017 Justin Ray

A new infrared reconnaissance satellite for one of the United States’ highest priority space programs — making early detection of enemy missile launches — was successfully delivered into orbit Friday by an Atlas 5 rocket.

Video: Missile alert satellite launches atop Atlas 5

January 21, 2017 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, standing 189 feet tall and and weighing 720,000 pounds, unleashes 860,000 pounds of thrust from its main engine to launch the SBIRS GEO Flight 3 early-warning satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Photos: Atlas 5 rolled out with SBIRS GEO Flight 3

January 19, 2017 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket was transfered from its assembly building to the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 today for Thursday’s launch of the U.S. military’s third SBIRS GEO missile warning satellite.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket receives its payload for Jan. 19 launch

January 19, 2017 Justin Ray

The third Space Base Infrared Systems Geosynchronous Earth Orbit, or SBIRS GEO Flight 3, was hoisted atop the Atlas 5 on Jan.12 to complete the pre-flight assembly of the 189-foot-tall rocket for launch.