United Launch Alliance will announce on Wednesday a collaboration with Blue Origin to develop and offer a rocket engine for U.S. space programs, Reuters reported Monday. Andrea Shalal writes the partnership seeks to replace Russian-made RD-180 engines that are used on ULA’s Atlas V rockets to lift off U.S. military satellites. Frank Kendall, the Defense […] More

NASA‘s engineers have completed work on the crew module on the Lockheed Martin-built Orion spacecraft, a move the agency says marks the end of work on all major components of Orion. The engineers attached the crew and service modules to the adapter and deliver the spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for ammonia and hyper-propellant fueling in preparation […] More

Lockheed Martin and Sierra Nevada’s space systems division have introduced the orbital spacecraft composite airframe of the Dream Chaser vehicle that SNC is developing for NASA’s human spaceflight program. Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of space systems, said Friday that Lockheed has begun work to to manufacture the Dream Chaser orbital structure airframes. The structure will serve as […] More

A Boeing-built GPS satellite has transmitted the first signals from space following the spacecraft’s launch on Friday. GPS IIF-7 took off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida to join a constellation of other satellites used for timing and navigation missions, Boeing said Saturday. “We are providing our Air Force partner and […] More

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has transported a remote sensing spacecraft to a launch facility in California for DigitalGlobe’s earth observations and geospatial data business. The new WorldView-3 satellite arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, where it is scheduled for launch on board a United Launch Alliance-built rocket in August, Ball Aerospace said Friday. […] More

DigitalGlobe and Ball Aerospace executives have discussed with Commerce Department Secretary Penny Pritzker the issues of an aerospace workforce and commercial satellite imagery regulations during a roundtable in Denver, Colorado. DigitalGlobe CEO Jeffrey Tarr and Ball Aerospace CEO Robert Strain also updated Sec. Pritzker on how the WorldView-3 satellite could work to meet various demands, […] More

The United Launch Alliance has signed contracts with several U.S. companies to move towards creating a next-generation rocket engine, Reuters reported Tuesday. Andrea Shalal writes the joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin will choose one company to investigate next-generation liquid oxygen/ hydrocarbon first stage propulsion concepts to build the rocket engine as an alternative […] More

Lockheed Martin Corp. has completed the installation of the Orion space crew capsule on the service module as part of a series of milestones leading up to the first exploration test flight. Ballast weights were fixed into the crew module in order to comply with requirements for appropriate flight performance before the stacking phase at the […] More

A team of NASA and Lockheed Martin engineers has begun integrating a thermal protection system onto the crew module of the agency’s Orion deep-space exploration vehicle. NASA plans to conduct a maiden test flight for the Orion spacecraft by Dec. 4, Lockheed said Wednesday. The test’s goal is to evaluate if the heat shield will […] More

Aerojet Rocketdyne’s propulsion system, consisting of booster and upper-stage engines and spacecraft attitude control thrusters, has helped launch a military navigation satellite to space from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. its RS-68 booster engine, RL10B-2 upper-stage engine and 12 monopropellant hydrazine thrusters have propelled Boeing’s GPS IIF-5 satellite from United Launch Alliance’s […] More

Boeing has received initial signals from its global positioning system satellite from space following the spacecraft’s Thursday launch. The GPS IIF 5 satellite was launched into space aboard  a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and transmitted signals after more than three hours, Boeing said Friday. The spacecraft has […] More

Boeing’s tracking and data relay satellite has transmitted its first signals from space after its launch on Jan. 23. The TDRS-L is the fifth satellite that Boeing built for various NASA operations involving the International Space Station, researches on the Earth’s climate and deep space study using the Hubble Telescope, Boeing said Thursday. Craig Cooning, […] More