United Launch Alliance – Page 29

Solar probe moves into launch position at Cape Canaveral

July 31, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, fueled and buttoned up for liftoff Aug. 11 on the first mission to fly through the sun’s corona, arrived at its launch pad at Cape Canaveral early Tuesday after a convoy trip from a nearby fueling and test facility.

Launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe rescheduled for Aug. 6

July 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

The launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, on the verge of kicking off a seven-year mission culminating in passages through the sun’s atmosphere, has been delayed to Aug. 6 to resolve a technical snag encountered during encapsulation of the spacecraft inside the nose shroud of its United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket.

SpaceX’s first space-worthy Crew Dragon capsule arrives at Cape Canaveral

July 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft, a capsule designed to eventually carry astronauts on treks to the International Space Station, has arrived at Cape Canaveral to begin preparations for launch on an unpiloted test flight later this year.

Towers at historic Florida launch pad toppled

July 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force on Thursday demolished towers once used to assemble Delta 2 rockets at Cape Canaveral for missions to Mars, four dozen flights to deploy the GPS navigation network, and numerous launches with scientific, commercial and military payloads.

First interplanetary CubeSats already setting records in deep space

May 17, 2018 Stephen Clark

Two CubeSats developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched May 5 with the InSight mission to Mars have deployed their miniaturized antennas and captured a distant family portrait of the Earth and the moon.

Rocketcam replay of InSight’s launch to Mars

May 11, 2018 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance has released a replay of the May 5 liftoff of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars aboard an Atlas 5 rocket, as viewed by aft- and forward-facing cameras on the two-stage launch vehicle.

Photos: Shrouded in fog, Atlas 5 takes flight from Vandenberg

May 9, 2018 Stephen Clark

A layer of fog intruding on Vandenberg Air Force Base in California kept nearby observers from seeing any sign of Saturday’s predawn launch of an Atlas 5 rocket carrying a robotic NASA probe to Mars. The only images of the Atlas 5’s fiery takeoff came from remote cameras placed at the launch pad, or from distant viewing points away from the poor visibility.

After foggy departure, it’s clear sailing to Mars for InSight lander

May 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

Making a fiery climb into a foggy sky Saturday over California’s Central Coast, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket dispatched NASA’s InSight lander on a 301-million-mile voyage to Mars with a package of European-built instruments to probe the inside of the Red Planet.

Video: InSight blasts off through the fog

May 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket took off Saturday from California with the InSight spacecraft heading for Mars.

Photos: Mobile gantry retracted for launch of Atlas 5 rocket at Vandenberg

May 5, 2018 Stephen Clark

Towering more than 20 stories tall, the 8-million-pound mobile gantry at the Atlas 5 rocket’s launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, was retracted into position late Friday for liftoff of NASA’s InSight mission to Mars.