This was a busy week for launchers - and not an entirely successful one.
On Tuesday, the space shuttle Endeavour rocketed into orbit with its seven member crew. Despite some initial fears of a debris strike, a check turned up nothing of concern on the orbiter, which linked up with the International Space Station on Thursday.
That same day, an Atlas V placed a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base. This marked the first launch of the heavy-lift Atlas V from the California rocketport. Atlas V is built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
On Friday, the upper stage of a Proton M launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome malfunctioned during its second burn. The AMC-14 communications satellite was stranded in an elliptical transfer orbit with an apogee of 28,000 kilometers, far short of geosynchronous orbit.
Russian officials held out hope that the Lockheed-built DISH Network satellite could use its own engines to reach the proper orbit. The satellite’s owner, SES Americom, will need to make a decision about what to do.
Early Saturday morning, a Delta 2 rocket lit up the darkened skies as it blasted off from Cape Canaveral carrying a Block 2 GPS spacecraft. The rocket placed the Lockheed-built payload into a transfer orbit 68 minutes later. This was the second successful launch by ULA in as many days.
The Decatur Daily has a story about how United Launch Alliance suffered a setback for its Atlas V vehicle, which was not chosen for the COTS program.
Earlier this week, NASA officials awarded a $170 million contract to Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corporation to develop a new launch system capable of delivering cargo to the International Space Station. The space agency had earlier awarded a similar contract to California-based SpaceX for a similar project involving both cargo and crew vehicles.
The Atlas V vehicle is being considered as the prime rocket for Bigelow Aerospace’s planned Sundancer space station. The companies are reportedly in negotiations for up to 50 Atlas V cargo and crew launches.
Pundit Rand Simberg has weighed in on the proposed deal for up to 50 Lockheed Martin Atlas V launches to support Bigelow Aerospace’s planned Sundancer space station. Simberg discusses the rocket’s reliability as well as NASA’s decision not to use the Atlas as the basis for a shuttle successor.
Flight Global reports that Bigelow Aerospace and Lockheed Martin are in final negotiations for Lockheed to provide a human-rated capsule and up to 50 Atlas V cargo and crew launches to an orbital space station by 2015.
Bigelow’s Sundancer space station will be composed of three inflatable modules and a propulsion unit. The modules are due to be launched into orbit in 2010 and 2011 aboard Atlas vehicles.
Read the full story here.
New Scientist reports that there are no major obstacles to upgrading the Atlas V rocket for human spaceflight. Bigelow Aerospace is in negotiations with Lockheed Martin to launch humans and cargo to its planned orbital space station.
Meanwhile, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin defended his decision to reject the Atlas V for the shuttle successor in favor of a shuttle-derived Ares rocket. Griffin accused “losing contractors [of] spotting an opportunity coincident with an election year to reopen what was a settled issue three years ago.”
The Orlando Sentinel also has a story about Ares and Robert Bigelow’s plan for the Atlas V.