Earlier today a Soyuz rocket launched the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station, carrying a fresh 3 person crew to the orbiting laboratory, bringing the ISS crew total back to 6, and the total number of people in space right now to 8: 6 on the ISS and 2 on […]
For the first time in nearly 2 years, an Antares rocket launched from the launch facilities on Wallops Island, Virginia, carrying a Cygnus cargo craft to the International Space Station. While a pretty straightforward launch of a somewhat plain seeming booster, this launch was a critical moment for Orbital ATK, creators of Cygnus and Antares, […]
It’s well known that I am a massive fan of the Titan missile, and its derived space boosters – the Titan II GLV, the Titan-III and Titan-IV booster families. These launch systems, based upon the Titan II Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, used a very special type of fuel and oxidizer type that was storeable at room […]
We have another exciting Atlas V launch today, this time from Vandenburg Air Force Base off the East coast of the United States! This launch will be the baseline Atlas V, the “401” configuration, no side boosters and a single engine centaur stage. The payload, the Worldview-4 commercial Earth observations Satellite, will be launched into […]
An Atlas V rocket carrying the OSIRIS-REx probe successfully launched yesterday, September 8th, sending it’s payload on a course that will eventually, in 2018, bring it to the asteriod Bennu, a rocky body believed to contain large quantities of organic molecules, heavy metals, and other useful materials with a goal of returning a sample of […]
We had another successful SpaceX launch this morning. In fact, as I begin typing this, the second stage and the payload, JCSAT-16, have yet to leave their parking orbit – we are still about 5 minutes away from the second engine burn that will put the satellite on course for a geostationary orbit! This launch, […]