Tag: Atlas V

ULA’s Debuts New “RocketBuilder” Website

ULA’s Debuts New “RocketBuilder” Website

It may not have a reusable rocket, or even the prospect of one, but that doesn’t mean United Launch Alliance isn’t without a few advantages of its own in competing for commercial launch orders. On Wednesday, ULA introduced a new website, called RocketBuilder.com, meant to highlight its newfound commitment to transparency, lowering launch prices and becoming […]

With Successful Antares Launch, Russian Engines Are Riding High

With Successful Antares Launch, Russian Engines Are Riding High

After a near two year stand down while the launch pad was repaired and the rocket was retooled, Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket made a triumphant return to flight Monday evening. Liftoff from Pad OA at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport took place at 7:45 PM EDT, as the booster lofted a Cygnus cargo vehicle loaded with […]

NASA Counting Down to Asteroid Mission Launch on Thursday Evening

NASA Counting Down to Asteroid Mission Launch on Thursday Evening

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate is counting down to the launch of yet another ground breaking (in this case, literally) spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral. Flying aboard the ever-reliable ULA Atlas-V in its 411 configuration, the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer, or Osiris-REx, will journey to the Near Earth asteroid Bennu, where it will collect and […]

Posted in: Asteroids, NASA
Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Atlas, Delta, Falcon and Whole Bunch of Smoke

Opinionated Analysis The ping pong match between the House and the Senate over ULA’s request for more RD-180 engines for the Atlas V was in the hands of the latter yesterday, where the Senate Armed Services Committee once again insisted that the number be limited to 9 engines beyond tbose already ordered as part of […]

Boeing CST-100 / Starliner Schedule Slip

Boeing CST-100 / Starliner Schedule Slip

SpaceX may now be in the pole position to be the first company to launch astronauts to orbit under NASA’s Commercial Crew contract. According to a report in GeekWire, Boeing has announced a slip, albeit a brief one, in its Starliner test schedule as the company works though several issues in getting its capsule ready […]

Read’em and Weep: New Falcon 9 Performance Numbers Are Bad News for ULA, Arianespace

Read’em and Weep: New Falcon 9 Performance Numbers Are Bad News for ULA, Arianespace

Over the weekend, SpaceX updated the maximum performance numbers for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters, helpfully including payload to Mars capability, (and Pluto) along with standard LEO and GTO numbers supplied by most launch vehicle providers. While the Falcon Heavy showed a somewhat surprisingly small increase, from 53,000 kg to 54,400 kg to […]

Posted in: SpaceX
SpaceX Wins Contract ULA Refused to Bid; Saves Taxpayer $60 Million

SpaceX Wins Contract ULA Refused to Bid; Saves Taxpayer $60 Million

Mars was not the only thing in SpaceX’s orbit on Thursday. On the same day that the company announced it is aiming for a landing on the Red Planet as early as 2018, it also landed the first award in its long sought campaign to launch national security missions under the Air Force’s EELV program. […]

Congress Prepares to Push the AR-1 on ULA

Congress Prepares to Push the AR-1 on ULA

The long and increasingly sordid saga of America’s dependence, and indeed bizarre fascination with the Russian RD-180 engine for the Atlas V booster is set to take another turn this week. And if certain scenarios play out, observers could be forgiven for wondering is there any limit to how much damage elected representatives from the […]

Bigelow Aerospace & ULA Propose a Major Expansion of the International Space Station

Bigelow Aerospace & ULA Propose a Major Expansion of the International Space Station

On Sunday, the SpaceX CRS-8 Dragon spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station, carrying in its “trunk” the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module or BEAM. Based on a press conference held today at the 32nd Space Symposium in Colorado Springs however, BEAM may be only the beginning of Bigelow’s presence at ISS, and the future may […]

Atlas V’s RD-180 Shut Down Early on NASA Cargo Launch

Atlas V’s RD-180 Shut Down Early on NASA Cargo Launch

For anyone who was paying extraordinarily close attention to the ULA/Orbital ATK launch of an Atlas V rocket to the International Space Station on Tuesday night, a slight discrepancy in the timing of first stage main engine cutoff might have been noticeable. And if you caught that, then a burn of the Centaur upper stage’s […]

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