Vandenberg Air Force Base – Spaceflight Now

Relativity books up to six launches for Iridium, reveals plans for Vandenberg pad

June 24, 2020

Relativity Space, a small launch startup aiming to fly its orbital rocket from Cape Canaveral for the first time next year, announced Wednesday it has signed a contract with Iridium for up to six launches of the company’s spare communications satellites. Relativity also announced it plans to develop a second launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to allow for missions to polar orbits.

ULA delivers Delta 4-Heavy rocket to California launch base

April 16, 2020

United Launch Alliance’s rocket transport ship has delivered a Delta 4-Heavy rocket to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for launch of a U.S. government spy satellite late this year.

In parallel with rocket development, Firefly launches lunar lander initiative

April 1, 2020

A souped-up version of the Israeli Beresheet moon lander built in Texas could be ready to carry NASA science and technology payloads to the lunar surface before the end of 2022, according to officials from Firefly Aerospace.

AEHF satellite arrives in Florida for first of nearly 20 Space Force launches this year

January 13, 2020

The sixth and final satellite in the U.S. military’s network of ultra-secure, nuclear-hardened AEHF communications relay stations has arrived in Florida for final preparations for liftoff in March on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the first of nearly 20 U.S. Space Force missions planned for launch in the first year of operations for the new military service.

Long March, Soyuz and Falcon rockets topped 2019’s launch leaderboard

January 2, 2020

China led the world with 34 orbital launch attempts in 2019 — including two failures — followed by 22 flights from Russian-operated launch pads and 21 satellite delivery missions originating from U.S. spaceports, all of which were successful.

Aerojet Rocketdyne, Firefly to collaborate on propulsion

October 28, 2019

Firefly Aerospace and Aerojet Rocketdyne have announced a strategic partnership to collaborate on rocket propulsion, an agreement that could lead to Firefly’s use of Aerojet’s AR1 engine in a new medium-lift launcher.

Long-delayed NASA science satellite gets October launch date

September 10, 2019

The launch of a NASA ionospheric research satellite off Florida’s east coast is targeted for Oct. 9 after persistent technical problems with its air-dropped Pegasus rocket stymied two launch opportunities last year.

Launch providers announce rideshare missions large and small

August 19, 2019

SpaceX and Arianespace recently announced plans to launch rideshare missions to sun-synchronous and geostationary orbit, dedicating big rocket capacity for small satellites as the U.S.-based launch broker Spaceflight committed to using a new Indian microsatellite launcher set to debut later this year.

Firefly offering free launch for research and educational payloads

June 18, 2019

Firefly Aerospace is asking academic institutions, startup companies and the public to submit ideas for payloads to launch, free of charge, on the inaugural orbital flight of the company’s Alpha rocket next year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Photos: Falcon 9’s fog-enshrouded launch and landing at Vandenberg

June 17, 2019

These photos show the June 12 launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with three Earth-observing satellites for Canada’s Radarsat Constellation Mission.