US Air Force – Page 12 – Spaceflight Now

Launch timeline for Atlas 5’s AFSPC 11 mission

April 14, 2018 Stephen Clark

A United Launch Atlas 5 rocket is set to loft three military satellites for the U.S. Air Force on a mission codenamed AFSPC 11. This timeline shows the major mission events planned over a six-hour flight to a near-geostationary orbit.

Photos: Atlas 5 rolled out for Air Force mission

April 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

A United Launch Alliance arrived at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 41 launch pad Friday morning after rolling out of its vertical hangar with three U.S. Air Force satellites designed to provide communications to military leaders and test new in-orbit inspection and surveillance technology.

Blue Origin’s orbital rocket in the running to receive U.S. military investment

April 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin submitted a proposal late last year in what’s expected to be a four-way competition for U.S. Air Force funding to support development of new orbital-class rockets, a further step taken by the Jeff Bezos-owned company to break into the military launch market, industry officials said.

Live coverage: Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral with multiple satellites

April 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

With its payload shroud filled with multiple U.S. Air Force satellites heading for a high-altitude perch over the equator, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Saturday at 7:13 p.m. EDT (2313 GMT) in its most powerful configuration with five strap-on solid-fueled boosters.

Atlas 5

Atlas 5 rocket readied for high-altitude multi-satellite flight Saturday

April 13, 2018 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance crews at Cape Canaveral are finishing final preparations for an Atlas 5 rocket launch Saturday evening to dispatch three U.S. military satellites directly to an orbital perch more than 20,000 miles over the equator.

Orbital ATK confident new rocket will win Air Force support

April 12, 2018 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK’s bid to join the U.S. military’s roster of rockets to haul the most critical national security satellites into orbit faces stiff competition from entrenched launch providers and billionaire entrepreneurs, but the company is confident its Next Generation Launch system will win one of three funding agreements the Air Force is expected to award this summer.

Q&A with Mike Laidley, vice president of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch program (members only)

April 10, 2018 Stephen Clark

Mike Laidley leads development of Orbital ATK’s Next Generation Launch system, a rocket the commercial space company hopes will provide a foothold in the lucrative market to launch U.S. military satellites, a business currently dominated by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

Photos: Atlas 5 takes off with SBIRS GEO Flight 4

January 22, 2018 Stephen Clark

Revisit Friday night’s blastoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral with SBIRS GEO Flight 4, the fourth in an upgraded line of U.S. Air Force missile detection and warning satellites.

End to government shutdown should limit impact on space operations

January 22, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA and the U.S. Air Force are expected to return to normal operations Tuesday after lawmakers passed a budget bill Monday evening, ending a government funding lapse that threatened to cut off live television coverage of an International Space Station spacewalk and interrupt SpaceX launch operations in Florida and California.

Video: ULA highlights reel from Friday night’s Atlas 5 launch

January 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance has packed two days of rollout, countdown and launch activities into a two-minute video highlighting Friday night’s blastoff of an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral with the U.S. Air Force’s SBIRS GEO Flight 4 missile-warning satellite.