OrbitalHub

 

August 29, 2013. Rollout and launch of a Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle from Baikonur. Zenit placed into orbit the telecommunications satellite Amos-4.

Credit: Roscosmos

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ULA dixit:

“A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifts off from Space Launch Complex-6. Designated NROL-65, the mission is in support of national defense. This is ULA\’s eighth launch in 2013, the 24th Delta IV mission and the second Delta IV Heavy launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.”

Credit: United Launch Alliance

ESA dixit:

“Liftoff of Ariane Flight VA215 carrying EUTELSAT 25B/Es\’hail 1 and GSAT-7. Liftoff occurred from Europe\’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 20:30 GMT (22:30 CET; 17:30 French Guiana) on 29 August 2013.”

Credit: ESA / Arianespace

 

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (or IRIS) is a space probe to observe the Sun. It is a NASA Small Explorer program mission to investigate the physical conditions of the solar limb, particularly the chromosphere of the Sun. Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL) integrated the observatory. The observatory consists of a spacecraft and spectrometer that LMSAL built, and a telescope provided by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Now that it is in orbit it is being operated by Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory and NASA Ames Research Center. Its instrument is a high-frame-rate UV imaging spectrometer; one image a second, 0.3 arcsec spatial resolution, and sub-angstrom spectral resolution. NASA announced on June 19, 2009 that IRIS was selected from six small explorer mission candidates for further study, along with the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism (GEMS) space observatory.

The spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg AFB, Calif. on April 16, 2013 and was successfully launched on June 27, 2013 on a Pegasus-XL rocket. IRIS achieved first light on July 17, 2013. NASA noted, “IRIS\’s first images showed a multitude of thin, fibril-like structures that have never been seen before, revealing enormous contrasts in density and temperature occur throughout this region even between neighboring loops that are only a few hundred miles apart.”

Credit: NASA

Source: Wikipedia

SpaceX dixit:

“On August 13th, the Falcon 9 test rig (code name Grasshopper) completed a divert test, flying to a 250m altitude with a 100m lateral maneuver before returning to the center of the pad. The test demonstrated the vehicle\’s ability to perform more aggressive steering maneuvers than have been attempted in previous flights. Grasshopper is taller than a ten story building, which makes the control problem particularly challenging. Diverts like this are an important part of the trajectory in order to land the rocket precisely back at the launch site after reentering from space at hypersonic velocity.”

Credit: SpaceX

Cool stuff.

Credit: SpaceX