Latest Spaceflight Stories
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket successfully launched the fourth Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-4 satellite for the U.S. Air Force at 5:38 p.m. EDT today from Space Launch Complex-41. "The ULA team is honored to place another next-generation GPS satellite on orbit for our U.S. Air Force customer," said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Mission Operations. "Today's successful delivery of the GPS...
CANOGA PARK, Calif., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In their fourth launch of 2013, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and RD AMROSS successfully propelled the fourth Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIF military navigation satellite into orbit. The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. The Atlas V is powered by the RD AMROSS RD-180 booster engine and a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL10A-4-2 upper-stage...
RICHMOND, BC, May 15, 2013 /CNW/ - MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. ("MDA" or the "Company") (TSX: MDA), a global communications and information company, announced today that it has signed a contract amendment for CA$8.4 million with an undisclosed customer to provide multiple advanced technology solutions for a telecommunication satellite. MDA announced the original contract in September 2012. About MDA MDA is a global communications and information company...
EDWARDS, Calif., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems Dream Chaser flight vehicle arrived at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Wednesday to begin tests of its flight and runway landing systems. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The tests are part of pre-negotiated, paid-for-performance milestones with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), which is facilitating U.S.-led companies'...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online NASA announced on Wednesday that its Kepler spacecraft was sitting in safe mode once again, possibly putting an end to its high-accuracy observations. Kepler went into a Thruster-Controlled Safe Mode earlier in May, and NASA said its spacecraft is sitting in the same position again. The space agency said the root cause of Kepler putting itself into safe mode is unknown, but the possible cause "appears to be an altitude error."...
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scientists using images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have estimated that the planet is bombarded by more than 200 small asteroids or bits of comets per year forming craters at least 12.8 feet (3.9 meters) across. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Researchers have identified 248 new impact sites on parts of the Martian surface in the past decade, using images from the spacecraft to determine...
HAMPTON, Va., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A group of NASA astronauts will be at NASA's Langley Research Center this week to fly in a simulator that is being used to help evaluate the subsonic handling characteristics of Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Space Systems' Dream Chaser spacecraft. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) The simulation is of an approach to - and landing at - Edwards Air Force Base in California - the final 10,000 feet and 60...
Students Gain Real-world Exposure to Spacecraft Design Process SUNNYVALE, Calif., May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Aerospace engineering students at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), San Luis Obispo, have completed a design review with Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Space Systems Company for geostationary satellites and service vehicles. The review, which was conducted at Lockheed Martin's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility, concluded a year-long project for the students in the...
ESA Steer tractors with centimeter-accuracy to improve farming and the environment. Navtronics, a Belgium ESA Business Incubation Centre start-up company, is tailoring intelligent guidance for agricultural machinery using advanced satnav. As any other industry, the agriculture sector is always looking for ways to raise productivity and reduce labor cost through new technologies. One is the use of high-end Real Time Kinematic (RTK) satellite navigation to steer and control tractors...
WASHINGTON, May 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a news teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, today, May 15, to discuss the status of the agency's Kepler Space Telescope. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone, which is the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. Launched...
Latest Spaceflight Reference Libraries
Stephanie Wilson is an American engineer, a NASA astronaut, and the second African American woman to go into space. She was born Stephanie Diana Wilson on September 27, 1966 in Boston, Massachusetts. An astronomy professor she interviewed during middle school became her first inspiration to pursue a career in space. She graduated from Taconic High School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1984, and then attended Harvard University, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering...
Dick Scobee was an American astronaut. He was born Francis Richard "Dick" Scobee on May 19, 1939 in Cle Elum, Washington. He was raised in Auburn, Washington and attended Washington Elementary, Cascade Middle School, and Auburn Senior High School, where he earned his high school diploma in 1957. That same year, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and initially served as an engine mechanic at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas. During his time off, he studied at San Antonio College, and...
Sunita Williams is an American astronaut and a United States Navy officer who holds the record for the longest space flight by a woman. She was born Sunita Pandya Krishna on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio to parents of Indian and Slovenian decent. She graduated from Needham High School in Needham, Massachusetts in 1983, and then went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1987. She was immediately commissioned as an Ensign in...
Terry W. Virts, Jr. is a Colonel in the United States Air Force and an active American astronaut. Virts was born on December 1, 1967 in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Oakland Mills High School in Columbia, Massachusetts and graduated 1985. He enrolled in the United States Air Force Academy, where he graduated with honors in 1989, receiving his Bachelor of Science in mathematics. He then attended the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he once again graduated with honors in 1997,...
Roberto Vittori is an ESA astronaut as well as an Italian Air Force Officer and a test pilot for the United States. Vittorri was born on October 15, 1964 in Viterbo, Lazio, Italy and attended the Italian Air Force Academy, graduating in 1989. While working towards his graduation from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, Maryland in 1995, Vittori operated the Tornado GR1 along with the 50th Wing of the 155th Squadron in Piacenza, Italy from 1991 to 1994. During this time, he...
