Sunday afternoon, this time without any fog, SpaceX launched USSF-67, another Falcon Heavy rocket out of LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Starting a year that could bring us four more super heavy lift launches from the company.
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It seems to be a news story that takes place every couple of years, but early Saturday morning, sonic booms were heard across Florida Space Coast. Those rather iconic booms could only mean one thing, the arrival of NASA’s Space Shuttle or the Space Force’s classified X37-B spaceplane. Since all of NASA’s shuttles have been collecting dust in museums for the past decade, it must be that pesky X37-B.
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A United Launch Alliance Atlas V 421 rocket will launch the sixth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (SBIRS GEO-6) mission for the United States Space Force’s Space Systems Command to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The target liftoff time is no earlier than 6:29 a.m. EDT on August 4, 2022, from SLC-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
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Season two of the comedy show Space Force is now available to watch over on Netflix.
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Astra attempted to launch NASA’s ELaNa (Educational Launch of Nanosatellites) 41 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station; however, some range equipment failed, not allowing the company to launch safely.
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Today United Launch Alliance launched its first mission of 2022, and the final unflown configuration of the Atlas V rocket. Onboard were two space surveillance satellites for the US Space Force.
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Friday afternoon United Launch Alliance is preparing to launch two satellites directly to geosynchronous orbit for the U.S. Space Force. The USSF-8 mission will be the only Atlas V to fly the 511 configuration and is ULA’s first flight of 2022.
Launch Date: Friday, January 21, 2:00 p.m. EST
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Early Tuesday morning United Launch Alliance launched its fourth and final Atlas V rocket of 2021. For STP-3, it was ULA’s largest variant with five solid rocket motors.
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United Launch Alliance is scheduled to conduct the third Space Test Program mission, or STP-3, for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command in the early hours of Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Here’s how to the ULA’s Atlas V rocket launch.
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Fourth time’s the charm for Astra! It has successfully reached orbit with its Rocket 3.3 vehicle, serial number LV0007. This mission follows the “powerslide launch” in which an engine failure lead to a terminated flight.
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The United States Space Force has slowly begun to grow its presence everywhere space is present in the Department of Defense. This includes the Air Force Academy, which has now added a formal detachment there from the new branch.
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For the first time in the history of the Joint Chiefs, they have modified their identification badge to represent the addition of the Space Force.
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Founded in 2019, the Space Force came from the Air Force Space Command. With the reorganization, many airmen became Space Force Guardians. Now, the Space Force has selected over 900 new personnel to transfer into the branch.
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This week, the Space Force gained a new look, NASA human spaceflight leadership has been divided, and preparations continue for Artemis I.
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The newest branch of the United States Armed Forces has slowly begun building its own brand. Following Monday’s Space Force unveiling of enlisted rank insignia, the service has shown off their dress and physical fitness uniform prototypes.
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Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force Roger Towberman announced the new rank insignias for enlisted Guardians Monday.
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After a failure in the second stage during their “Running Out Of Toes” mission earlier this year. Rocket Lab is planning to return with a now improved system this week. The mission will carry a test satellite for the United States Space Force to evaluate new sensor technology. In tradition with Rocket Lab’s fun naming style, this launch will be named “It’s A Little Chile Up Here”. This is in honor of the green chile of New Mexico where the Space Force’s Space Test Program is based.
Date: Thursday, July 29th at 4:00 a.m. EDT (2-hour window)
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Before yesterday’s game between the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres, the Vice Chief of Space Operations threw out the first pitch alongside other Space Force Guardians.
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The United States Space Force operates the GPS constellation that we use every day to know where we are. Tomorrow, SpaceX will launch a new GPS III satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, into orbit to expand and upgrade the constellation that was been active since 1978. The launch window opens at 12:09 p.m. and lasts 15 minutes.
Date: Thursday, June 17th, 12:09 p.m. EDT
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Pegasus XL is an air-launched rocket capable of launching ~443kg to Low Earth Orbit. Northrop Grumman conducted a launch of this vehicle over the weekend on a mission for the Space Force. The satellite was named Odyssey and was designed to be a “Space Domain Awareness” Technology Demonstration.
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On Tuesday United Launch Alliance launch their first Atlas V rocket of the year. This mission carried with it a missile detection satellite called SBIRS GEO 5 for the United States Space Force.
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May 18th, 2:19 PM EDT: The SBIRS GEO 5 satellite has been deployed from the Centaur upper stage.
A few weeks ago, ULA conducted their first launch for 2021 with a launch of a Delta IV Heavy for the National Reconnaissance Office. Next week, ULA plans to launch the first Atlas V rocket of the year carrying a payload for the US Space Force.
Date: Monday, May 18th, 1:37 PM EDT
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While the Falcon 9 continues to smash launch cadence records with already 9 flights this year, its bigger sibling the Falcon Heavy still hasn’t been seen since 2019. SpaceX plans to launch 1 maybe even 2 this year if schedules can hold, the first of which is getting closer to being ready for flight.
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The United States Space Force made a rather significant announcement today, stating that its members will officially be called Guardians. The naming consensus was reached after a year-long process involving hundreds of submissions.
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