Latest Rocket Stories

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA leaders met Thursday to discuss acquisition plans for the agency's new heavy-lift rocket with hundreds of representatives of aerospace industry companies, small businesses and independent entrepreneurs. The rocket, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), will take astronauts farther into space than ever before, create high-quality jobs here at home, and provide the cornerstone for America's future human space exploration...

CANOGA PARK, Calif., Sept. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- In an impressive display of power and technology, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed a series of hot-fire tests on the certified RS-68A engine, the world's most powerful hydrogen-fueled engine. The tests demonstrated the capability of the engine to operate for 4,800 seconds of cumulative run time - four times the design life of the engine and more than 10 times what's needed to boost a United Launch Alliance heavy-lift...

CANOGA PARK, Calif., Sept. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne today demonstrated its continued support of NASA and space exploration by successfully boosting the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft, which scientists will use to unlock the mysteries of the Moon. The mission launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket with a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A engine. Pratt & Whitney...

  A Utah-based aerospace company successfully completed a two-minute test of a booster rocket Thursday, an event the firm referred to as "an important milestone in further validating the rocket's potential use in heavy lift and commercial launch vehicles," in a Sept. 8 press release. According to Josh Loftin of the Associated Press (AP), the ATK Aerospace Systems' five-stage, 154-foot, 22-million horsepower booster, code-named Development Motor (DM-3), was described by the company's VP...

PROMONTORY, Utah, Sept. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) today conducted a third successful ground test of the next-generation solid rocket motor. The successful test, known as Development Motor (DM-3), is an important milestone in further validating the rocket's potential use in heavy lift and commercial launch vehicles. Initial test data indicate the motor performed as designed, producing approximately 3.6 million pounds of thrust, or 22 million horsepower, and burning for just...

NASA and Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) will conduct a full-scale test of a five-segment, solid rocket motor at the ATK Aerospace Systems test facility in Promontory, Utah, at 4:05 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Sept. 8. To attend the test, journalists must register with ATK. For information and to request credentials, contact ATK's Trina Patterson at 801-699-0943 or trina.patterson@atk.com. The registration deadline for U.S. reporters is Sept. 2. The deadline for foreign journalists is Aug. 26....

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) successfully demonstrated its Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) minimum-smoke rocket motor on fixed-wing aircraft operating in severe weather environments. The motor, currently slated only for carriage on rotary-wing platforms, releases minimal smoke in flight, making it more difficult for enemy ground combatants to track the missile's trail back to the aircraft. The tests were company funded and included two static...

CENTENNIAL, Colo., July 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Hands-on learning will reach new heights when Colorado high school students and college interns from across the nation blast high-power rockets and payloads deep into the Colorado sky. Now in its fourth year, the high-power rocket event involves more than 100 Colorado high school students and interns from United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., showcasing their collective ingenuity with the launch of six...

CANOGA PARK, Calif., July 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne again demonstrated its large payload lift capabilities by successfully boosting the second GPS- IIF2 navigation satellite for the U.S. government launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force station, Fla. The satellite was onboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV-Medium rocket, powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68 booster engine and an RL10B-2 upper-stage engine. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a...

NASA conducted a combined chill test and 1.9-second ignition test July 14 of the next-generation J-2X rocket engine that could help carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit to deep space.The test at John C. Stennis Space Center is the first in a series of tests that will be conducted on the J-2X engine, which is being developed for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. The ignition test on the A-2 Test Stand is the first of a series of firings...