CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida has selected United Launch Services LLC of Englewood, Colo., to provide Delta II launch services for the Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission, currently scheduled for July 2016.
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30th Space Wing Public Affairs — VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. — Team Vandenberg launched a Delta II rocket carrying the Aquarius/SAC-D (Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas) observatory from Space Launch Complex-2 here at 7:20 a.m. PDT.
Col. Richard Boltz, 30th Space Wing commander, was the launch decision authority.
“Team Vandenberg performed brilliantly once again in ensuring safe and successful launch operations,” said Colonel Boltz. “We wish our mission partners at NASA well as they begin their important work with Aquarius.”
The table above is adapted from data in the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation: 2010 Year In Review report. Shown are data on commercial rockets for which there is information on launch costs. I also added in mission types (LEO, GEO and SSO) for those launches with price information. Note that for the Rockot, Soyuz 2 and Proton M, there were some flights for which there is no price information. These […]
ULA's Atlas V
In my talk with David Livingston on The Space Show last night [listen here], he mentioned a Space News story from last month about a spike in U.S. launch costs that I had missed. I looked it up today and here’s the essence of it:
While 2011 is expected to be a banner year for NASA’s planetary science program with three missions scheduled for launch, future initiatives are threatened by budget uncertainties and a dramatic spike in the price of launch vehicles, according to an agency official.
“This is a really difficult financial environment,†Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary science, said Dec. 15 at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union here.
Rides into orbit for NASA’s 2011 planetary missions, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), the Juno mission to Jupiter and the Moon-bound Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), were purchased under the first NASA Launch Services (NLS) contract. That contract, which does not include specific quantities of rockets to be purchased or delivery dates, sets prices for launch vehicles and related services for NASA’s planetary, Earth observing, exploration and scientific satellites.
The Delta II rocket with the COSMOS Sky-Med radar imaging satellite lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
ULA to cut 123 jobs at Cape
Florida Today
United Launch Alliance is about to cut 224 jobs nationwide, including 123 from its Cape Canaveral launch operations team…
Photo credit: NASA/Sandra Joseph, Kevin O’Connel NASA PRESS RELEASE At 12:05 p.m. EDT, the Delta II rocket easily lifted the GLAST spacecraft off the launch pad, out of smoke and clouds and into a beautiful Florida sky headed for space. The second firing of the second-stage engine was confirmed as was successful spacecraft separation. Applause rippled through the launch control center as separation confirmation was received. GLAST is now on […]
This was a busy week for launchers – and not an entirely successful one. On Tuesday, the space shuttle Endeavour rocketed into orbit with its seven member crew. Despite some initial fears of a debris strike, a check turned up nothing of concern on the orbiter, which linked up with the International Space Station on Thursday. That same day, an Atlas V placed a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into […]