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Antares rocket on the pad, 17 April 2013. Liftoff is scheduled for 1700 EST. Known as the Antares A-ONE flight, it will launch 8 cubesats while hoisting a weight simulator of the Cygnus spacecraft.
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(via crookedindifference)
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At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida, preparations are underway to erect the first stage of the Atlas V rocket that will carry the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-K, into orbit.
TDRS-K is the first of three next-generation communications satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA. The seven TDRS spacecraft currently in orbit provide tracking, telemetry, command and high-bandwidth data return services for numerous science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth. These include NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. TDRS-K has a high-performance solar panel designed for more spacecraft power to meet growing S-band communications requirements.
Image Credit: NASA/Ben SmegelskyThat is a sexy beast.
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Today is the 45th anniversary of the first Saturn V test flight. The naming history is complicated, so a quote from NASA’s history page:
Evolution of nomenclature for the Saturn family of launch vehicles was one of the most complex of all NASA-associated names. On 15 August 1958 the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) approved initial work on a multistage launch vehicle with clustered engines in a 6.7-million-newton-thrust (1.5-million-pound-thrust) first stage. Conceived by designers at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), the vehicle was unofficially known as “Juno V.” (Juno III and Juno IV were concepts for space vehicles to follow Juno II but were not built.) 1
In October 1958 Dr. Wernher von Braun, the Director of ABMA’s Development Operations Division, proposed the Juno V be renamed Saturn and on 3 February 1959 ARPA officially approved the name change. The name Saturn was significant for three reasons: the planet Saturn appeared brighter than a first-magnitude star, so the association of this name with such a powerful new booster seemed appropriate; Saturn was the next planet after Jupiter, so the progression was analogous to ABMA’s progression from missile and space systems called “Jupiter”; and Saturn was the name of an ancient Roman god, so the name was in keeping with the U.S. military’s custom of naming missiles after mythological gods and heroes.
Image of all Saturn V launches courtesy of NASA, image in the public domain.
It’s nice that we have the NASA history office to remind us of this, since after decades of ignoring the business of creating rockets to carry men outside of near-Earth orbit, we couldn’t build a Saturn V if we had to.
Let’s change that attitude.
Sexy. Beasts.
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Soyuz TMA-06M was rolled out to the launch pad today. It’s bad luck for the prime crew to attend the rollout of their Soyuz, so the backup crew get to watch. The prime crew gets their hair cut instead.
unff. Sexy Soyuz is Sexy. This rocket is so sexy to me.
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Saturn V being assembled at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville during 1964.
(via for-all-mankind)
