Monday, November 20, 2017

United Launch Alliance Sends NASA/NOAA Payload Into Space

The United Launch Alliance sent a payload into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base early Sunday morning, on a Delta II rocket. According to the ULA, it sent the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) for NASA and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into space at 1:47 a.m. PST on Saturday morning, from Space Launch Complex-2. the launch also carried five CubeSats carrying a number of space research and education projects. The launch sets the stage for the last launch over of the Delta II rocket, which is being retired; the ULA said the final, Delta II launch mission is scheduled for 2018 for the NASA ICEsat-2 mission. NASA is the last user of the Delta II rocket, which it decided to phase out back in 2007 due to rising launch costs when the US military switched over to the Delta 4; articles place the cost of a Delta II launch at over $130M. The SpaceX Falcon 9 currently has a list price of $62M per launch.