United Launch Alliance – Page 59

Probe hoisted aboard launcher to leave Earth next week on asteroid adventure

August 29, 2016 Justin Ray

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft today moved a step closer to starting a voyage to explore an uncharted world in our solar system — the mountain-sized Asteroid Bennu — by joining the booster rocket that will propel it from Earth next week.

Photos: Atlas 5 rocket assembled for launch of asteroid sample return probe

August 25, 2016 Justin Ray

At Cape Canaveral’s Vertical Integration Facility, adjacent to the Complex 41 launch pad, workers with United Launch Alliance stacked the Atlas 5 rocket that will propel NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on its voyage to Asteroid Bennu.

Atlas 5 rocket rehearses countdown for upcoming launch to Asteroid Bennu

August 25, 2016 Justin Ray

Running through a practice countdown to check systems before launching a NASA sample-return probe to Asteroid Bennu in exactly two weeks, an Atlas 5 successfully completed its Wet Dress Rehearsal today.

Photos: OSIRIS-REx prepped for encapsulation

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is about to be sealed inside the nose fairing of its Atlas 5 rocket booster for a seven-year voyage to asteroid Bennu and back to Earth on a mission to seek out clues to the origin of life and the chaotic early solar system.

One of NASA’s cleanest spacecraft ever is ready to fly

August 23, 2016 Stephen Clark

Five years after winning $1 billion from NASA to mount the first U.S. asteroid sample return mission, scientists and engineers will get their last look at the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft this week as it is closed up inside the nose cone of an Atlas 5 rocket for launch in September.

Sophisticated new U.S. weather observatory being readied for launch

August 22, 2016 Justin Ray

On the cusp of advancing U.S. weather forecasting, a powerful new satellite was shipped from its Denver factory to the Cape today in preparation for launch in November.

Video: Preview of the OSIRIS-REx mission to sample an asteroid

August 21, 2016 Justin Ray

Watch the pre-flight news conference that introduces NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on Sept. 8. It will capture a sample of Asteroid Bennu for return to Earth.

Photos: More Launch shots of Delta 375 rocket

August 19, 2016 Justin Ray

The United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Medium+ (4,2) rocket lifted off at 12:52 a.m. EDT (0452 GMT) from Cape Canaveral for the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program.

Delta 4 successfully soars to the high ground to deploy two patrol satellites

August 19, 2016 Justin Ray

The 375th Delta rocket doubled the size of the Air Force’s “neighborhood watch” program today with the successful launch and deployment of two surveillance satellites into the vast geosynchronous belt of spacecraft around the planet.

Photos: Delta 4 lights up the sky for night owl launch

August 19, 2016 Justin Ray

Launching the second pair of Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites for the U.S. military, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket thundered away from Cape Canaveral today at 12:52 a.m. EDT (0452 GMT).