NASA’s Parker Solar Probe gets its power from the Sun, so the solar arrays that collect energy from our star need to be in perfect working order. This month, members of the mission team tested the arrays at Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Florida, to ensure the system performs as designed and provides power to the spacecraft during its historic mission to the Sun.
Following release from the International Space Station by ground controllers at 9:23 a.m. EDT, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean at about 3 p.m. This marks the end of the company’s 14th contracted cargo resupply mission to the space station for NASA. A boat will take the Dragon to the port …
NASA’s Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) spacecraft is on its way to Mars. InSight launched on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 401 rocket at 4:05 a.m. PDT (7:05 a.m. EDT) this morning, May 5, from Space Launch Complex-3 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. There were no …
Robotic flight controllers released the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 9:23 a.m. EDT, and Expedition 55 Flight Engineer Scott Tingle of NASA is monitoring its departure. Dragon’s thrusters will be fired to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, …
It’s an exciting day for NASA. The agency’s twin Mars Cube One (MarCO) mini-spacecraft have launched from dispensers mounted on the aft bulkhead carrier of the Atlas V Centaur second stage. Designed and built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, MarCO will be the first test of CubeSat technology in deep space. They …
We have spacecraft separation. Cheers and applause can be heard from the launch teams as the InSight spacecraft separates from the United Launch Alliance Centaur upper stage to fly freely for the first time.
The second engine burn of the Centaur upper stage has begun and will last for about five minutes.
InSight Countdown to T-Zero, Episode 1: From the West Coast to the Red Planet The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket reaches another major milestone on the road to T-Zero, as NASA’s InSight spacecraft prepares for launch. Stacking the rocket begins with the booster – the largest component – and continues with the addition of …
The first engine burn of the Centaur upper stage has ended. Centaur with NASA’s InSight spacecraft and MarCO is now in a coast phase.
The Centaur upper stage main engine has started its burn following on-time booster engine cutoff and Atlas/Centaur separation. The first of two burns for the Centaur main engine start will last nearly eight minutes. The payload fairing has been jettisoned.
