Delta 2 launches GRAIL spacecraft
Posted: Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 12:56 PM ET (1656 GMT)
A Delta 2 rocket successfully launched a pair of NASA spacecraft that will study the Moon's interior. The Delta 2 7920H lifted off from Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 9:08 am EDT (1308 GMT) during the second of two one-second launch windows available Saturday. The rocket's upper stage deployed the twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft a little over an hour after liftoff. The two spacecraft will enter orbit around the Moon in four months, where they will map the Moon's gravity field to far higher precision than before, yielding new information about the Moon's interior. A launch attempt Thursday was scrubbed by high-level winds, while technical issues postponed Friday's launch attempt. The launch is the last scheduled Delta 2 launch from Cape Canaveral; one more Delta 2 is slated for launch next month from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
A Delta 2 rocket successfully launched a pair of NASA spacecraft that will study the Moon's interior. The Delta 2 7920H lifted off from Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, at 9:08 am EDT (1308 GMT) during the second of two one-second launch windows available Saturday. The rocket's upper stage deployed the twin Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft a little over an hour after liftoff. The two spacecraft will enter orbit around the Moon in four months, where they will map the Moon's gravity field to far higher precision than before, yielding new information about the Moon's interior. A launch attempt Thursday was scrubbed by high-level winds, while technical issues postponed Friday's launch attempt. The launch is the last scheduled Delta 2 launch from Cape Canaveral; one more Delta 2 is slated for launch next month from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Pentagon places head of Space Development Agency on leave for investigation
Posted: Sun, Jan 19 10:25 AM ET (1525 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Tuesday, January 21
Aegis Aerospace sending payload on the moon on Firefly mission
Houston Business Journal — 6:46 am ET (1146 GMT) Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base re-scheduled for Tuesday
KGET-TV Bakersfield, CA — 6:45 am ET (1145 GMT) Blue Origin goes orbital
Royal Aeronautical Society — 6:44 am ET (1144 GMT) SpaceX launches another batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit
UPI — 6:43 am ET (1143 GMT) Hawaiians, South Texans worry about more Starship launches
San Antonio Express-News — 6:41 am ET (1141 GMT) |
