An American Atlas V 401 rocket successfully launched today, October 29th 2014, at 17:21 UTC carrying the GPS IIF-8 satellite into orbit for the US Air Force. The Atlas V 401 rocket was the 50th launch of an Atlas V vehicle. This is ULA's 12th launch in 2014, and the 89th successful launch since the company was formed in December 2006.
Light Sail 1 has been completed and is ready for launch!
As explosive and disastrous as this might look, this attempt is extremely close to a success, and on the first try. That's pretty incredible
Via Space.com:
The private spaceflight companies Boeing and SpaceX are on track to start launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017, representatives of both firms said Monday (Jan. 26).
In September 2014, SpaceX and Boeing were awarded contracts under NASA's commercial
crew program to help them start flying astronauts on missions to the space station from U.S. soil in the next few years. SpaceX and Boeing are planning to launch a series of tests of their spaceships — capsules called Dragon V2 and the CST-100, respectively — from this year through 2017. The tests will make sure the launch systems are in good shape before the spacecraft make their first official runs to and from the station.
Russian mission control has lost contact with a satellite full of geckos slated to participate in a weightlessness experiment, in the latest setback for the country's space industry.
The Photon-M satellite and its reptile crew will probably be lost and fall from orbit in a few months unless specialists can re-establish communications with it, a source in the space industry told Interfax news agency. The four female and one male gecko on board will die from hunger within two and a half months or earlier if the craft's life-support systems are also disrupted, the source said.
Rocket launches at Sunrise or Sunset produce light shows known as 'Twilight Phenomena'.
This is caused by unburned fuel particles freezing and scattering across the sky where they diffract light in the colourful ribbons seen above.
NASA's Orion spacecraft, which could one day send astronauts to Mars, is stuck on terra firma for at least another day after the space agency's mission control was unable to satisfactorily resolve a number of issues before a 9:45 a.m. ET launch window closed.
The unmanned vehicle is awaiting its first test in Earth orbit. But after multiple delays for high winds and a stuck liquid-oxygen drain valve on one or more of the Delta IV Heavy rocket's booster engines, NASA didn't have time to get the rocket off the pad. It will try again Friday morning.
