Latest Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Stories

By Irene KlotzCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- A Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket being prepared to launch NASA's first probe to Pluto was slightly damaged when Hurricane Wilma cut a swath through Florida but should still be able to launch as planned, officials said on Friday.The 200-foot (61-meter) tall rocket was standing vertically inside its assembly hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station when Wilma blasted through on Monday, bringing wind gusts up to 76 mph (122 kph) to the spaceport on...

By Irene KlotzCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - NASA decided on Sunday to close the Kennedy Space Center and told its 13,000 workers to stay home on Monday as Hurricane Wilma makes a beeline for Florida.Meteorologists were predicting winds of about 60 mph (100 kph) at the space shuttle's home port at Cape Canaveral, on Florida's east-central coast, said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel.In preparation for the storm, the payload bay doors of the space shuttles Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. space shuttle Discovery blasted off from its launchpad at Cape Canaveral in Florida on Tuesday in NASA's first shuttle mission since Columbia was destroyed in 2003.

NASA -- Determined not to go quietly into the misty Florida night, the last Atlas III-Centaur booster thundered into the cloudy sky on Feb. 3 to punctuate the final launch for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's venerable Launch Complex 36. The combined histories of the Atlas-Centaur family and Complex 36 reflect intertwined programs that teamed to produce one of NASA's most successful exploration eras. Not far from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, Launch Complex 36 rises out of the sandy...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- An Atlas 3 rocket lifted off into space early Thursday carrying a secret military payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that oversees the nation's constellation of spy satellites. The launch was the sixth and final mission for the 170-foot Atlas 3 rocket, which has been replaced by the Atlas 5, a larger, more powerful rocket designed to reduce costs and provide reliable access to space for heavier military cargoes. The liftoff also marked the...

Nayland College student David Jolly is over the moon after winning a $10,000 University of Canterbury scholarship to study astronomy. The 18-year-old applied for the Aurora Scholarship in March. He had to submit an essay outlining why he wanted to study astronomy and received notification late last month that he had been the successful applicant. David will receive $5000 to travel to international observatories, $4000 to help cover his first year fees and $1000 to conduct a research...