By Ben Evans, on January 25th, 2019
Star-tracker image of the lunar limb, with Venus a bright object in the background, from Clementine. Photo Credit: NASA/U.S. Geological Survey
When a returning Falcon 9 first stage plunged back to Earth and alighted at Landing Zone (LZ)-4 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., last October—wrapping up SpaceX’s first return-to-launch-site on the West Coast—it […]
By Ben Evans, on January 19th, 2019
ULA’s first flight of 2019 sets off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 11:10 a.m. PST Saturday, 19 January. Photo Credit: Brian Sandoval/AmericaSpace
Although relegated last February to second place on the list of the world’s most powerful operational rockets—sitting behind SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy—the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy roared to […]
By Ben Evans, on January 11th, 2019
A reused SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket taking flight with the final set of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites from Vandenberg AFB, CA on Jan 11, 2019. Photo: Brian Sandoval / AmericaSpace.com
Two years to the week since it began its Iridium NEXT journey, SpaceX has successfully lofted the eighth and final batch of global mobile […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on October 7th, 2018
Falcon 9 soaring above the mountains surrounding Vandenberg AFB, CA with SAOCOM-1A. Photo: SpaceX
SpaceX has triumphantly wrapped up the first Return to Launch Site (RTLS) of a Falcon 9 first stage at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., following the early-evening flight of Argentina’s long-awaited SAOCOM-1A radar-imaging satellite on Sunday, 7 October. Liftoff of […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on October 5th, 2018
Saturday’s launch will mark the fifth SpaceX flight of 2018 out of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., tying a “personal best” from last year. Photo Credit: NASA
Following a smooth Static Fire Test of its nine Merlin 1D+ first-stage engines on Tuesday, 2 October, SpaceX stands ready to launch—and land—its first Falcon 9 booster […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Mike Killian, on July 2nd, 2018
Launch of Iridium-4 from Vandenberg AFB, California. Photo: SpaceX
Up next on the U.S. space launch manifest is another SpaceX mission, and another twilight one at that, scheduled to fly atop a ‘Block 5’ Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in southern California as soon as July 20 with the seventh batch […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on May 22nd, 2018
The NASA/German Research Centre for Geosciences GRACE Follow-On spacecraft launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Tuesday, May 22, 2018, from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It shared it’s ride to orbit with five Iridium NEXT communications satellites as part of a commercial rideshare agreement. Photo Credit: NASA
[…]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Ben Evans, on May 21st, 2018
SpaceX is scheduled to launch the next five Iridium NEXT global mobile communications satellites to orbit, along with the NASA / German Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission. Photo: SpaceX
SpaceX is the final stages of preparing for a launch attempt on Tuesday, May 22, to deliver the next five Iridium NEXT […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Mike Killian, on May 5th, 2018
Foggy liftoff this morning for the first planetary mission from the West Coast U.S., this is all anyone saw of anything as NASA’s InSight spacecraft took off for the next mission to land on Mars next November. Photo: NASA
NASA’s next highly-anticipated mission to land on Mars took off early this morning, May 5, […]
Like this:Like Loading...
By Paul Scott Anderson, on May 4th, 2018
NASA’s InSight mission to Mars is now scheduled to launch on May 5, 2018. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This weekend NASA will launch its next mission to Mars, but this one will be a little different than the previous ones. Unlike the rovers Curiosity and Opportunity, both still actively examining rocks and sand on the […]
Like this:Like Loading...
|
|