#slc41

Inaugural Starliner flight arrives at launch pad. (December 18, 2019)

With countdown clocks ticking towards the first test of Boeing’s Starliner capsule, the United Launch Alliance rolled the Atlas V vehicle to SLC-41 Wednesday morning. Starliner’s maiden voyage is scheduled to liftoff on an eight-day shakedown cruise to the International Space Station at 6:36am EST Friday, December 21. 

The 45th Space Wing, based at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, gives an 80% change of acceptable weather conditions for the instantaneous launch window.

Starliner is one of two capsules developed as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, along with SpaceX’s Dragon. Both companies received contracts totaling $6.8 billion in 2014 to develop the first new crewed American spacecraft since the Space Transportation System in the mid-1970s.

Starliner’s Orbital Flight Test marks the second flight of the program and first orbital flight. The capsule tested its abort capabilities during a Pad Abort Test at the White Sands Missile Range November 4. OFT-1 marks the first time an Atlas vehicle has launched a crew-capable spacecraft since the flight of Faith 7 and Mercury-Atlas 9 in May, 1963. It will also mark the first launch of a crew-capable spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station since Apollo 8 in December, 1968. The Atlas V will be flying in the new N22 configuration, denoting Starliner replacing a payload fairing, two solid rocket boosters and a dual-engine Centaur upper stage.

OA-7 launches to orbit with S.S. John Glenn.

Orbital ATK’s seventh Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station lifted off earlier today (April 19) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. An Atlas V 401 rocket blasted off from SLC-41 at 11:11am EDT with the S.S. John Glenn Cygnus cargo freighter. Cygnus, with its 7,600 pounds of cargo, is expected to arrive at the orbiting outpost early Saturday morning, April 22. OA-7 marked the first use of United Launch Alliance’s new RapidLaunch program which enabled customers to select, process and launch their payloads to orbit within a span of just a few months. Although launch contracts typically take between 1-2 years between signing and launch, Orbital ATK saw OA-7 launch just five months after signing a contract with ULA. This was the third Cygnus spacecraft to launch from Cape Canaveral following the OA-4 and OA-6 missions in 2015 and 2016. In an interesting historical note, the S.S. John Glenn launched atop an Atlas V rocket, a descendant of the rocket family that the spacecraft’s namesake astronaut rode into orbit in 1962.

http://ipneo.info

L-1 - Atlas V with OSIRIS-REx rolls to pad.

Less than 33 hours remain before NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission blasts off on its mission to Bennu. United Launch Alliance rolled the Atlas V rocket to SLC-41 earlier this morning, marking the rocket’s final Earth-bound journey.

Atlas is flying in the 411 configuration, a rarely-used variant of the launcher, which can be tailored to meet the thrust needs of its payload.

Only one AJ-60A Solid Rocket Motor is attached to the Atlas Common Booster Core, a unique variant which has only flown three times prior to 2016. Atlas will produce more than 1.2 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.

Launch is slated for 7:05pm, Thursday, September 8. Weather is currently at 80% acceptable conditions.

T-8 Days (August 31)

OSIRIS-REx, encapsulated inside the protective nosecone of its Atlas V rocket, was transported to SLC-41 Monday morning, August 29. The spacecraft was mated with its launch vehicle, completing assembly of the rocket ahead of launch next week.

ULA technicians will now perform final integrated vehicle checks, ensuring that the combined spacecraft/rocket combination is responding to commands and is performing nominally.

T-17 days - solid rocket booster attached to Atlas V.

Technicians with United Launch Alliance installed a single AJ-60A Solid Rocket Motor to the Atlas V core stage earlier today, completing assembly of the first stage of OSIRIS-REx’s launch vehicle. The rocket is assembled in the Vertical Integration Facility at SLC-41.

The Centaur Upper Stage will be mated later this week. On August 24, OSIRIS-REx is slated to be encapsulated in the four-meter diameter payload fairing which will protect it during ascent out of Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft was attached to the Payload Fairing Adapter earlier today.

Since Atlas is flying in its 411 configuration, only a single Solid Rocket Motor will be attached. The rocket will produce more than 1,208,700 pounds of thrust at takeoff.