Vandenberg Air Force Base – Page 12

Live coverage: Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with fifth set of Iridium Next satellites

March 30, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s fifth launch for Iridium’s upgraded mobile communications network occurred at 7:13 a.m. PDT (10:13 a.m. EDT; 1413 GMT) Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The Falcon 9 rocket flew with a reused first stage, but SpaceX did not intend to recover the booster after Friday’s launch.

Iridium boss senses shift in SpaceX rhythm with another launch set for Friday

March 29, 2018 Stephen Clark

On the eve of the Iridium’s fifth launch with SpaceX, the mobile telecom satellite operator’s chief executive says he no longer waits for SpaceX’s rockets to be ready. Instead, Iridium’s satellite team is racing to keep pace churning spacecraft off their assembly line.

Ground equipment problem slips next Falcon 9 launch to Friday

March 27, 2018 Stephen Clark

Trouble with a piece of ground equipment used for testing of the 10 Iridium communications satellites aboard the next Falcon 9 rocket launch has forced a 24-hour delay in the mission to Friday, officials said Tuesday.

Atlas 5 rocket assembled for first Mars mission launch from Vandenberg

March 23, 2018 Stephen Clark

Ground crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California raised a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket on its launch pad earlier this month in preparation for liftoff May 5 with NASA’s InSight lander heading to Mars.

Launch preps advance in California for next Falcon 9 flight

March 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX’s fifth launch of replacement spacecraft for Iridium’s global voice and data communications network is set for March 29 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a flight that Iridium hopes will signal the start of a brisk pace of West Coast missions to complete deployment of the telecom company’s initial 75-satellite constellation this summer.

InSight lander flown to California for final launch preps

March 2, 2018 Stephen Clark

NASA’s robotic InSight Mars lander arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this week aboard a U.S. Air Force cargo plane, ready for final testing, fueling and launch aboard an Atlas 5 rocket May 5, two years later the originally planned.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket fires into orbit with Paz, Starlink satellites

February 27, 2018 Stephen Clark

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched Feb. 22 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with the Spanish Paz radar observation satellite and two prototypes for a planned broadband Internet network.

Recycled SpaceX rocket boosts Paz radar satellite, first Starlink testbeds into orbit

February 22, 2018 Stephen Clark

Launching with a Spanish radar observation craft and the first two experimental satellites for SpaceX’s planned global broadband network, a Falcon 9 rocket fired away from California’s Central Coast shortly before sunrise Thursday after several days of delays.

Photos: Falcon 9 on the eve of launch from Vandenberg

February 21, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX crews at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California rolled out a Falcon 9 rocket and lifted it vertical atop its launch pad ahead of a planned blastoff Wednesday with a Spanish radar observation satellite and two test probes for a planned global broadband Internet network.

Test satellites for SpaceX’s broadband ‘megaconstellation’ set for launch

February 20, 2018 Stephen Clark

SpaceX is set to launch two prototype probes Wednesday to begin testing spacecraft and antenna technology the company hopes will eventually power a network of thousands of satellites blanketing planet Earth with broadband Internet coverage.