Astra Introduction Video from Chris Kemp on Vimeo. Ashlee Vance also has a story at Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2020-astra-rocket/ Some interesting tidbits: Astra’s next launch is scheduled for Feb. 21 from Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska on Kodiak Island; previous two launches suffered in-flight failures; payload will be up to 450 lb (204 kg) to low Earth orbit; launch cost is $2.5 million, but Astra is working toward $1 million; the company […]
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DARPA Launch Challenge candidate sites (Credit: DARPA)
ARLINGTON, Va. (NASA PR) — DARPA has narrowed the potential launch locations for the DARPA Launch Challenge to eight, with options for both vertical and horizontal launch. The challenge will culminate in late 2019 with two separate launches to low Earth orbit within weeks of each other from two different sites. Competitors will receive information about the final launch sites, payloads, and targeted orbit in the weeks prior to each launch.
Anchorage, AK — July 6, 2018 (Alaska Aerospace Corporation PR) — Alaska Aerospace today launched Aurora Launch Services as a wholly-owned subsidiary to offer low cost launch services to both commercial and government customers worldwide. Based in Anchorage, Alaska, Aurora Launch Services will be the exclusive provider for launch services at the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska, located in Kodiak. “This is an exciting time for Alaska Aerospace as we […]
Astra Space scrubbed another attempt to launch its Rocket 1 booster from the Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska on Friday, according to media reports. The company, which is based in Alamedia, Calif., had planned to launch the booster on a suborbital flight. The rocket is composed of a first stage and a dummy second stage. Astra Space had a launch window of May 10-11. The company scrubbed an earlier launch […]
Astra Space scrubbed a suborbital launch of its Rocket 1 booster on Friday just minutes before the scheduled liftoff, according to press reports. The cause of the scrub is not known. Nor has there been a new date set for another launch attempt from the Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska on Kodiak Island. The maiden flight of the new booster would have demonstrated the first stage. The vehicle would have […]
A P3 Navy aircraft with Hangar One at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. (Copyright 2008: Douglas Messier)
NASA PRESS RELEASE
Nov. 19, 2010
NASA and the State of Alaska agreed today to collaborate in a variety of activities of mutual interest involving small satellite development, advanced aviation, space exploration, education and science.
During a ceremony held at the Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s (AAC) Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska, NASA’s Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden and Deputy Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development Curtis Thayer signed a three-year non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement establishing a partnership for space exploration, scientific research and education initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as STEM.
A Minotaur IV rocket is set to launch a set of innovative nanosats from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Friday evening. The launch is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 19, at 7:24 p.m. CST. The launch can be viewed on the web at this page, https://www.nasa.gov/fastsat, on Friday, Nov. 19, starting at 7 p.m. CST.
Below are NASA’s descriptions of three of the satellites to be launched: FASTSAT, NanoSail-D, and O/OREOS.
- NASA’s FASTSAT (Credit: NASA)
FASTSAT
NASA’s Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, will carry six small payloads to low Earth orbit, demonstrating a critical ability to provide low-cost and rapid response opportunities for scientific and technical payloads to get to space. FASTSAT is NASA’s first microsatellite designed to create a capability that increases opportunities for secondary, scientific and technology payloads, or rideshares, to be flown at lower cost than previously possible. It serves as a bus or platform that puts scientific research on the affordable fast track for governmental, academic and industry researchers.
The FASTSAT mission is a joint activity between NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program. The satellite was designed, developed and tested at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in partnership with the Von Braun Center for Science & Innovation and Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville.