Tag: April 9

Delta Rocket Makes Final Flight

Ars Technica reports, “The final flight of United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV Heavy rocket took off Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The Delta IV Heavy, one of the world’s most powerful rockets, launched for the 16th and final time Tuesday. It was the 45th and last flight of a Delta IV launcher and the final rocket named Delta to ever launch, ending a string of 389 missions dating back to 1960.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

 

 

 

Videos

Delta IV Heavy launches for final time with secret US spy satellite, 9 April 2024
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)

Soyuz Launches New Crew to ISS

Space News reports that a Russian Soyuz spacecraft bringing Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the International Space Station arrived April 9, “a few hours after launching from Kazakhstan.”  The Soyuz 2.1a rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:42 a.m. ET and docked with the station’s Rassvet module at 7:05 a.m. ET, following “a two-orbit approach to the station.” The trio is expected to “remain on the station through at least October as part of the Expedition 65 crew.”
Full Story (Space News)