Spaceflight Now reports that United Launch Alliance (ULA) teams “at Cape Canaveral rolled an Atlas 5 rocket to its launch pad Wednesday, moving the launcher into position for liftoff Thursday evening with a pair of geostationary satellites for the U.S. Space Force.” The rollout “began shortly after 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), when the Atlas 5 emerged from the Vertical Integration Facility south of the launch pad. The 196-foot-tall (59.7-meter-tall) rocket rode a mobile launch platform along rail tracks to Space Launch Complex 41, the East Coast home of Atlas 5 launch operations.” Launch is set for 6 p.m. EDT Thursday, “the opening of a two-hour launch window. There is a 60% chance of favorable weather for Thursday’s launch window, according to the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Tag: 2022
CAPSTONE Launched Tuesday Morning
CNET News reports that NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) was launched from the Rocket Lab launch facility in New Zealand on Tuesday, “paving the way for Artemis astronauts to return to the moon in the coming years.” CAPSTONE “will be testing new navigation systems and trying out the halo-shaped orbit around the moon that will one day be occupied by NASA’s Lunar Gateway. The Gateway will be a sort of small space station circling the moon that will be used for staging for Artemis missions to the lunar surface.”
Full Story (CNET News)
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Official NASA Broadcast of CAPTSTONE launch from New Zealand, June 28, 2022
(NASA via YouTube)
NASA Launches Rocket from Australia’s Northern Territory
SPACE reported that over the next weeks NASA “will launch three rockets from the Arnhem Space Centre in the Northern Territory on the Dhupuma Plateau, near Nhulunbuy. The rockets are 13 meter ‘sounding’ rockets that will not reach orbit but will take scientific observations.” This is the first time NASA will launch rockets from a commercial site in a foreign territory. The launch will “represent a major step forward for commercial space operators, as well as signaling the opportunity for future joint projects between Australia and the United States.” The rockets “have been designed and built by NASA and will be used for scientific investigations into the physics of the sun, astrophysics and the type of planetary science we can only conduct in the southern hemisphere.”
Full Story (SPACE)
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NASA launches rocket from Australia’s Northern Territory, June 26, 2022
(9 News Australia via YouTube)
South Korea Launches First Homegrown Space Rocket
The AP reports that South Korea “successfully launched its first homegrown space rocket on Tuesday, officials said, a triumph that boosted the country’s growing space ambitions but also proved it has key technologies to build a space-based surveillance system and bigger missiles amid animosities with rival North Korea.” The Nuri rocket “succeeded in releasing and placing its functioning ‘performance verification’ satellite at an altitude of 700 kilometers (435 miles) after its liftoff from South Korea’s space launch center at 4 p.m.”
Full Story (AP)
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Launch of South Korea’s Nuri rocket, June 21, 2022
(Korea Now via YouTube)
Blue Origin Launches New Shepard on Fifth Crewed Suborbital Flight
Parabolic Arc reported that Blue Origin successfully launched its New Shepard rocket Saturday, completing “its fifth human spaceflight and the 21st flight for the New Shepard program.” Launch occurred from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas at 9:25 a.m. Eastern. The crew capsule landed 10 minutes after liftoff after reaching an altitude of approximately 66 miles, while the vehicle’s booster made a successful landing about three minutes earlier. The NS-21 crew included Evan Dick, Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha, Jaison Robinson, and Victor Vescovo.
Full Story (Parabolic Arc)
More Info (AIAA Statement)
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Replay: New Shepard Mission NS-21 Webcast, 4 June 2022 (Blue Origin via YouTube)
AIAA Statement on Blue Origin’s Successful NS-21 Mission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 4, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:
“On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate the Blue Origin team on its successful NS-21 mission. This mission continues building on Blue Origin’s vision to see millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We recognize the dedicated aerospace industry professionals involved in making today’s mission a success. We salute our corporate member, Blue Origin, and their entire team for helping shape the future of aerospace.
AIAA is honored to be one of Blue Origin’s Club for the Future partner organizations to help develop and inspire the next generation of space professionals.”
Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
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About AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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Video
Replay: New Shepard Mission NS-21 Webcast, 4 June 2022 (Blue Origin via YouTube)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Students Place Second at 2022 Design/Build/Fly Competition
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (FL) reports that a team “of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students recently made school history by placing second in this year’s Design/Build/Fly aircraft competition hosted by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).” The team’s aircraft “is named MULLET, which stands for Medical Unmanned Low-Level Electric Transport.”
Full Story (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)
More Info (AIAA)
NASA Releases Footage of Ingenuity Helicopter Flight
SPACE reported that NASA “has just unveiled incredible new footage of its helicopter Ingenuity on a record-breaking flight on the Red Planet last month.” The video “shows the tiny Red Planet chopper as it flew across a distance of 2,310 feet (704 meters) at a speed of 12 mph (19 kph), with a view of Red Planet sands whirring by below.”
Full Story (SPACE)
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NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Captures Video of Flight (NASA JPL via YouTube)
Starliner Returns to White Sands Missile Range
The Washington Post reports that the Boeing Company’s Starliner capsule undocked from the International Space Station Wednesday and successfully returned to Earth, completing a six-day mission. The uncrewed capsule “touched down as scheduled at 6:49 p.m. Eastern time at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico under a trio of parachutes.” Starliner’s return marked the final step of a vital test for Boeing and NASA, “which required the aerospace company to prove it could safely fly the vehicle to the station and back autonomously before allowing it to fly astronauts.”
Full Story (Washington Post)
Video
Starliner’s Orbital Flight Test-2 Landing (Boeing via YouTube)
SpaceX Launches Transporter-5 Mission from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today reports that SpaceX launched its Transporter-5 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 at 2:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday. The Transporter-5 mission was carried out by a Falcon 9 rocket carrying around 59 satellite payloads. SpaceX’s launch “came just one minute before Boeing undocked its high-profile Starliner capsule mission from the International Space Station.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
Video
Launch of the Transporter-5 Mission (SpaceX via YouTube)