Endeavour Revealed for Launch Sunday Morning

The massive steel protective cover which houses the space shuttle from the weather elements was moved back away from Endeavour this morning in preparation for her launch on Sunday morning.

Beginning at 8:06 am EST, the rotating service structure began it's move, exposing a beautiful white dove upon her pad.


Launch of Endeavour on NASA's 130th space shuttle flight is set for Super Sunday at 4:39:50 am EST. The launch window is a brief five minutes.

Weather remain at 80% favorable at launch time.

Iran reports launch of Kavoshgar rocket to space

Iran reported this morning that it launched a Kavoshgar-3 rocket with live test animals. The below story is courtesy Cable News Network:

(CNN) -- Iran said Wednesday it had launched a rocket carrying a rodent, two turtles and some worms into orbit, claiming it as a successful advance in a space program that has raised international concerns.

The official Islamic Republic News Agency said the "home-built" Kavoshgar-3, or Explorer-3 rocket was launched at a ceremony to commemorate this month's anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew Iran's monarchy.

Iran, which is trying to contain a political crisis after violent protests erupted following the disputed re-election of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is expected to mount a series of high profile events to mark the anniversary.

State-run Press TV quoted Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi declaring the launch a success and describing Iran's space program as "peaceful."

"Iran will not tolerate any un-peaceful use [of space] by any country," he said.

Last year the U.S. State Department expressed "grave concern" over Iran's announcement it was planning a series of satellite launches.

"Developing a space launch vehicle that could... put a satellite into orbit could possibly lead to development of a ballistic missile system," State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said at the time. "So that's a grave concern to us."

The Pentagon called the plan "clearly a concern of ours."

"Although this appears to be [a] satellite, there are dual-use capabilities that could be applied to missiles, and that's a concern to us and everybody in region," Defense Department spokesman Geoff Morrell said at the time.

The United States is among nations expanding sanctions against Tehran amid concerns over Iran's test-firing of long-range missiles capable of reaching European and Israeli targets, and a program of uranium enrichment.

IRNA said the rocket launched Wednesday was "designed to send consecutive aerial images to ground and measure environmental information."

Press TV quoted Iranian space officials saying live video transmission and telemetry allowed the rat or mouse -- named Helmz-1 -- turtles and worms to be monitored during their space voyage.

The Fars news agency said later Wednesday that the animals had returned to Earth and were being studied by scientists.

In August 2008, a claim by Iran that it had successfully launched a vehicle capable of carrying a satellite into orbit were dismissed by the Pentagon, which said the rocket had been too unstable to leave the Earth's atmosphere.

Russian Soyuz U launch Space Station Supplies

A Russian rocket lifted-off on time this morning carrying fresh supplies and fuel for the five member crew of the International Space Station.

A Soyuz U LV rocket launched into the beautiful, but cold blue skies of Baikonur Cosmodrome in western Kazakhstan at 10:45:30 pm EST Tuesday evening (345 GMT) or 9:45:30 am Baikonur time this morning.

The rocket darted upward and eastward out toward Mongolia carrying the Progress M-04M unmanned supply vehicle -- the 36th cargo filled vehicle bound for the space station.

Loaded with some 5,600 pounds of supplies such as fuel, water, food, personal crew items, experiments and hardware, the Progress solar arrays deployed minutes after reaching orbit.

Following a two day orbital ballet and rendezvous, the Progress is scheduled to automatically dock with the Russian Zevezda service module section of the station on Thursday evening at 11:26 pm EST (426 GMT).

Space station Russian cosmonauts Maxim Suraev and Oleg Kotov will assist with the cargo ship's docking, and take over manually if the auto sequencer fails to bring the ship into a proper docking alignment.

Commander Jeffery Williams and Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi (Japan) and T.J. Creamer round out the space station's Expedition 22 crew of five.

Endeavour poised for a Super Bowl Sunday Launch

NASA-KSC image

NASA's thirty-second space shuttle flight in support of construction of the International Space Station is set to lift-off this Sunday morning on a two week flight.

Endeavour's six-person crew will deliver and hook-up two major components to the station which will extend the amount of living quarters as the station begins its second and final decade on orbit. Two of Endeavour's crew members will perform three spacewalks beginning on the fifth day of the mission.

Launch of the 130th space shuttle flight is planned for Super Bowl Sunday - February 7 - at 4:39:44 am EST, from launch pad 39-A here at the Kennedy Space Center. The launch window is only five minutes.

Commanding Endeavour's crew will be George Zamka who will be making his second trip to the space station. Terry Virts, who will serve as pilot, is making his first space flight. Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Stephen Robinson and Kathryn Hire are all space veterans and round out the crew.

Endeavour will carry up the 7 meter-long Tranquility module and the dome shaped Cupola module. Tranquility is a pressurized cylindrical node (15 feet in diameter) which will house living quarters and serve as an exercise section of the station.

Endeavour is set to dock to Earth's orbital outpost on Tuesday morning, Feb. 9 at 1:18 am EST.

Following an on time Sunday launch, astronauts Behnken and Patrick will begin the first of three spacewalks on Feb. 10 at 10:39 pm. The six and one-half hour planned orbital walk will focus on getting Tranquility ready to be installed on the space station's Unity node. They will be disconnecting the Tranquility cables which will be connected to Endeavour's payload bay; and remove eight flight covers from the docking port of Tranquility.

Two hours into the midnight spacewalk, robotic arm operator Hire will unberth Tranquility from the orbiter (~12:15 am Feb. 11) and slowly move it over for docking to Unity. Once docked to Unity, the spacewalkers will begin connecting several heating and avionics cables to the new module.

On Thursday night (Feb. 11), both the space station and Endeavour's commanders will open the hatch and enter the new Tranquility module for the first time.

Endeavour is expected to return home to the Space Coast on Feb. 19 at 11:13 pm, following 14 days in space. This flight will also mark the the first of the final five flights in the space shuttle program.

Endeavour moved to her launch pad today

The space shuttle Endeavour was moved out to her seaside launch pad this morning in preparation for her February construction flight to the International Space Station.

Endeavour, attached to her two white rocket boosters and rust colored external fuel tank, began her move a top mobile launcher platform #2 out to launch pad 39-A at 4:13 am EST, under a bitterly cold 32 degree temperature.

Moving at top speeds of 1 m.p.h. down a gravel laiden road designed to support the massive weight of the crawler transport, the move to the pad concluded at 10:37 am.

NASA's first shuttle flight of the year is planned for February 7 at 4:39 am EST.

Endeavour and her crew of six will deliver the final two U.S. sections for the space station - the Tranquility module and a 360-degree window view node.

Endeavour's flight will mark the first of the final five shuttle missions ever.

NASA's youngest orbiter -- which first flew in 1992 -- was attached to her boosters and huge fuel tank days before Christmas.

VIDEO: Tonight's successful Proton-M launch

An ILS Proton-M rocket launches the DirecTV-12 satellite tonight.

Russian Proton rocket launches DirecTV satellite

A new satellite which will increase the amount of high definition channels DirecTV offers arrived in orbit tonight, and will spend the next several hours moving into a permanent position to service the United States this spring.

An International Launch Services Proton-M rocket lifted-off on time at 7:22 pm EST tonight (0022 GMT Tuesday morning) from a chilly pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome and into an overcast sky.

The silver 191-foot tall Proton launched into the cold night sky on the final space shot of 2009, and flew eastward out of Kazakhstan and over Mongolia. Two minutes into the flight, the first stage separated from the upper stage.

Spacecraft separation is planned for 4:32 am EST (3:32 pm Baikonur time) on Tuesday.

The seventh ILS Proton launch of the year carried the Boeing-built DirecTV 12 will provide expanded high definition channels for the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii.

The satellite will use two huge Ka-band refelctors -- each measuring nearly 3 meters in diameter -- for the reception and transmission of over 200 cable channels.

Since 1994, Boeing has built 11 satellites for DirecTV.

Proton-M prepares for Monday night launch

On a cold, frosty Christmas morning at the Yuzhny Space Center in Kazakhstan, a Russian Proton-M rocket was transfered to launch pad 39 in preparation for it's night launch on the morning of December 29th (local time).

The snow covered space center was a beautiful touch to a desert region as the Proton was moved by railway. Thank-you to S.Sergeev at Yuzhny for the great images and read our story below)


SpaceLaunchNews.com will carry the prelaunch through ascent LIVE beginning at 7PM EST on Monday evening (0:00 GMT on Tuesday morning).

Russian Proton to Launch DirecTV Satellite Monday

A Russian rocket will deliver to orbit a telecommunications satellite for the Americas next week as the final earth launch of the year.

A new DirecTV satellite will support broader high definition broadcasts to the United States, and increase the amount of HD channels DirecTV carries. Built by Boeing Space, the spacecraft will orbit in geostationary orbit, and will support an additional 200-plus HD channels for the broadcast company.

Liftoff of the Proton M rocket (UR-500) with the DirecTV-12 satellite is planned for December 28th at 7:22 pm EST (0022 GMT Dec. 29) from pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

The 1.55 million pound Proton M's launch profile will see the rocket fly eastward over Kazakhstan, neighboring Mongolia and eastern China before sailing over the Korean peninsula and southern Japan. It's orbital inclination will then carry it over the southern Pacific Ocean and then up toward South America.

The Proton's first stage -- which supports six liquid fueled RD-276 engines and a core engine -- will burn from launch until just prior to stage separation at T+2 minutes. The second stage will then burn three RD-0210 engines for the next 206 seconds of the flight. The rocket's third stage will next take over to carry the satellite into low earth orbit.

A series of five burns will then raise the craft's orbit ever higher to it's geo-transfer orbit.

Spacecraft separation from it's kick motor is scheduled to occur nine hours, ten minutes post-launch over southern Somalia, Africa, in an initial orbit of 3,181 x 22,236 miles.

Designed to operate for 15 years, the DirecTV satellite will become operational by March and operate over the equator at a planned position of 102.8 west longitude.

The 131-transponder DirecTV-12 spacecraft was mated to the Proton's adapter on December 13. A day later, the adapter was then mated to the rocket's Breeze-M upper stage, according to International Launch Services.

Monday's launch will be the seventh ILS Proton launch of 2009, and only the 56th Proton launch for ILS overall.

Christmas Crew of Five aboard Space Station

Carrying a small decorated Christmas tree and wearing a red Santa cap, Soyuz commander Kotov entered the space station at 7:35 pm EST tonight, followed by elf's Creamer and Noguchi, and beginning their six month stay in space.

Hatch opening occurred at 7:30 pm this evening (3:30 am Moscow time) as the station passed 220 miles above the central Atlantic Ocean.

As quickly as the crew of entered the orbital outpost, they were ordered back inside their newly arrived Soyuz TMA-17 craft so that Russia's Mission Control could properly video record the crew's ingress into the station.

Minutes later, Mission Control in Moscow told the crew to go back again and to video record the crew's holiday dressed entrance into the space station for a third time.

As the minutes then went by with the Soyuz crew inside their space taxi again, the station's commander Jeff Williams and flight engineer Max Surave began to get a bit impatient with the staging of the ceremony.

"If we wait to much longer then the guys will get their feelings hurt and not want to come out," Surave radioed Moscow.

New crew members arrive at Space Station

Three new crew members arrived at their port-of-call tonight as a Russian Soyuz craft docked with earth's orbital outpost.

A Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft docked with the Russian Zarya section of the International Space Station at 5:48:20 pm EST (1:48 am Moscow time) this evening 220 miles off the east coast of southern Brazil.

"Welcome to station, guys, your home for six months," Williams stated ten minutes later.

Soyuz commander Oleg V. Kotov brought the craft into a slow approach with the station to 150 meters prior to docking. An automatic docking system piloted the Soyuz to Zarya earth-facing port minutes ahead of schedule.


Joining Kotov inside the Soyuz is American astronaut Timothy J. Creamer and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi. All three are just two days into their six month journey upon the ocean of space.

The space trio will join current station crew members, Expedition 22 Commander Jeffery Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev, who have been aboard the space station since October 2.

Kotov, who will serve as flight engineer during the Expedition 22, and in March assume the title of station commander as the Expedition 23 timeline begins with the Soyuz TMA16 undocking on March 18th.

Russian cosmonauts Suraev and Kotov on January 14 will perform a spacewalk and complete some work outside of the Poisk module which is connected to the Zvezda module.

Kotov, Creamer and Noguchi will undock from station aboard the Soyuz TMA 17 for the trip back to earth this May.

Hatch opening could occur as early as 7:35 pm EST.

Expedition 22 crew headed for Space Station

images via NASA & energia

The 22nd expedition crew is bound for the International Space Station.

On a beautiful, cold evening in Kazakhstan at the Baikonur Cosmodrome tonight, an American, Russian and Japanese astronaut boarded their Soyuz spacecraft and lifted-off toward a holiday link-up with earth's orbital outpost in space.

As a crescent Moon hung over the space center, American astronaut Timothy (T.J.) Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg V. Kotov and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi boarded their Soyuz TMA-17 craft perched a top a Soyuz FG LV rocket at pad 1 two hours before launch.

As the countdown reached zero, fuel and support arms retracted away from the 151-foot tall rocket. The Soyuz FG's four liquid fueled boosters and core main engine ignited on time launching the international crew of three upward at 4:52 pm EST (2152 GMT) from it's pad.

As the Soyuz launched, the Space Station flew 224 statue miles over the southern coast of Chilie, South America.

Two minutes into the rocket's climb to orbit, the boosters emptied their fuel and were jettisoned. Seven minutes later, the craft was in low earth orbit of 125 statue miles.

Creamer is making his first trip into space, while Kotov and Noguchi are each making their second visit to the space station.

After completing 34 orbits of the earth, the Soyuz TMA17 will make a slow approach to the station and dock to the Russian Zarya module on Tuesday. Docking time is planned for 5:54 pm EST (1:54 am Moscow time), however docking will likely happen a few minutes earlier than planned based on the quickness of their orbital rendezvous.

Once docked, the trio will join Expedition 22 Commander Jeffery Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev who have been aboard the space station since October 2.

Russian Soyuz to carry new crew to Station

The two-man crew of the International Space Station will receive three new crew mates in a few days as a Russian Space Agency Soyuz rocket prepares for launch on Sunday.

American Jeffery Williams and Russian Maxim Suraev have been alone 222 miles above earth aboard the station for the last few weeks, and they are looking forward to the Soyuz's arrival on Tuesday.

American astronaut T.J. Creamer, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi will begin a six month voyage upon the vast ocean of space as members of both the station's Expedition 22 and 23 crews.

The Soyuz FG rocket (above, on Dec. 18) with the Soyuz TMA 17 spacecraft will lift-off on Sunday at 4:52 pm EST, (2152 GMT) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

After a two day orbital chase to catch up with the space station, the TMA 17 will slowly move in and dock with the PIERS segment at 5:54 pmEST (22:54 GMT) on Tuesday.

Included with the international crew of three will be fresh supplies such as food, water, experiments, and small hardware in support of station operations.

Between now and February, the orbital outpost will see a lot of activity as the Soyuz docks; an unmanned Russian Progress 36P cargo ship docks on Feb. 5; and the space shuttle Endeavour arrives on Feb. 9 with the massive Tranquility module and the Cupola section.

SpaceLaunchNews.com will carry the launch LIVE beginning at 4PM EST (2100 GMT) on Sunday. Follow us via Twitter via @spacelaunchnews.

VIDEO: Ariane 5 Launches HELIOS 2B Today

VIDEO: Today's Ariane 5 launch from Kourou, SA with HELIOS 2B.

Twice delayed Ariane 5 Successfully Launches

Just in time for the Holidays, an Ariane 5 lifted-off from South America today giving Arianespace a celebration as they conclude the year with seven successful flights and their 30th year in the launch business.

The Ariane 5 GS fired it's core engine and rocket boosters and launched from pad ELA-3 at the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana at 11:26:07 am EST, today (1626 GMT) into a blue sky.

The 151-foot heavy lift launcher rose with it's mighty Vulcain 1B main engine and three solid fueled boosters north out over the Atlantic waters.

This 193rd Ariane rocket sat thru two launch scrubs in the last two weeks due to technical issues.

Today's launch was the third "GS" configured Ariane 5 rocket, the previous two GS flights having flown in 2007.

The HELIOS 2B was deployed into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit as the observatory orbits the earth from pole to pole. This orbital path will allow for it to have a larger coverage region of the globe.

The satellite will be used by multiple European counties to create maps of uncharted regions and create 3-D landscape images for better intelligence for the countries of France, Greece, Belgium, Italy and Spain.

HELIOS was built by several European aerospace companies such as Thales Alenia Space, with EADS Astrium as the prime contractor.

Ariane 5's launch today was the 35th back-to-back successful launch of an Ariane 5; and also marked it's 49th flight with the 50th flight now planned for February.

Ariane 5 mission to try again Today

A third launch try is underway at the Spaceport in Kourou, South America this morning as the launch team works to launch an Ariane 5 on a record seventh flight in one calendar year.

Launch time is planned for 11:26:07 am EST, and there is no launch window for this precise French military mission.

A launch attempt of the 150-foot rocket on Thursday was thwarted in the final six minutes of the count by an unknown technical issue.

Ariane 5's seventh launch of '09 set for Thursday

A European Space Agency rocket is set to carry a French military observation satellite into earth orbit on Thursday following a one week launch delay due to an issue with the rocket's core stage liquid helium plumbing.

The HELIOS 2B satellite was built for the French Ministry of Defense, and will orbit the earth as a military observatory to keep track of world activities.

The Ariane 5 GS rocket is set to make it's seventh launch of the year from the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on Thursday, December 17 at 11:26:07 am EST.

Ariane 5 will launch from the northern South American coastline and steer north-northeast out over the northern Atlantic Ocean. Ariane's second stage will then carry the satellite over the eastern section of Quebec, Canada and up the latitudes toward the north pole region at T+26 minutes, 33 seconds.

Spacecraft separation should occur on time at 12:25:23 pm EST, near western Australia.

The HELIOS 2B will be deployed into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit. As the observation satellite orbits the earth from pole to pole, it will have a larger coverage region of the globe.

The satellite will wear many hats as it maps uncharted regions and create 3-D landscape images for better intelligence for the countries of France, Greece, Belgium, Italy and Spain.

HELIOS was built by several European aerospace companies such as Thales Alenia Space, with EADS Astrium as the prime contractor.

Ariane 5 will mark it's 49th launch on Thursday; and this will also mark the 193rd Ariane rocket flight

Infrared Telescope launches to study the Universe

images NASA/VAFB

A new NASA telescope with the ability to detect faint light from stars and other bodies in the universe departed earth this morning to begin a seven month mission to learn more about our celestrial neighbors.

A United Launch Alliance Delta II-7320 rocket lifted-off under a cloudy California sky this morning at 6:09:33 am PST (9:09 am EST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base, carrying aloft NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer telescope.

Powered by three solid rocket boosters and a core stage main engine, the Delta II launched into the predawn sky and into a southern trajectory out over the Pacific Ocean.

As the Delta raced to take WISE into polar orbit, it's three boosters emptied their propellant 64 seconds into the launch at an altitude of 9 nautical miles, and 35 seconds later were dropped from the sides of the rocket as it moved just over two times the speed of sound.

Following main stage separation and several second stage burns, the WISE spacecraft left the rocket to begin it's own journey of discovery as it raced over northwestern Madagascar at 7:04:53 am PST at a speed of Mach 22.3.

Once WISE is operational in a few weeks it will begin to conduct surveys of the earth's night. Using it's very sensitive infrared telescope, WISE will be able to detect faint light levels in the Universe such as brown dwarfs; luminous galaxies; and distant lights as WISE provides a astronomical road map for the soon to be launched James Webb space telescope.

NASA WISE infrared telescope to Launch Monday

A new NASA satellite will begin a six month long mission this weekend as it aims it's infrared telescope out toward deep space and peers out to uncover new galaxies, asteroids and stars.

Lift-off of a United Launch Alliance Delta II-7320 rocket has been rescheduled for Monday, December 11th at 9:09:36 am EST, from Vandenberg, AFB in California. The launch window is 14 minutes.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will scan our section of the universe with it's very sensitive IR telescope looking for a glow ommitted from the millions of objects near to Earth and thousands of light years away.

Brown dwarf stars are dim stars which NASA hopes will be seen with greater quality as WISE takes a infared image and scientists back on earth study the glow of the object.

VIDEO: Tonight's Delta IV ULA Launch Highlights

Delta IV launches from Cape Canaveral tonight @ 8:47 pm EST.