OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

Countdown and liftoff of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the company’s Dragon spacecraft onboard for the company’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Launch occurred at 2:48 a.m. EST on May 4 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Video Credit: NASA/SpaceX

Northrop Grumman dicit:

Northrop Grumman’s vision for the next step toward human space missions to Mars employs our flight-proven Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft as a human habitat in cislunar space, the region between the Moon and Earth. In the early 2020s we would launch the initial habitat on NASA’s SLS rocket. Featuring a modular design, the habitat would serve both as a destination for crewed missions and as an unmanned testbed to prove-out the technologies needed for long-duration human space missions. The habitat is also envisioned as a base for lunar missions by international partners or commercial ventures. With additional habitation and propulsion modules, the habitat could be outfitted for a Mars pathfinder mission.

Video Credit: Northrop Grumman

Wikipedia dicit:

The RL10 is a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine used on the Centaur, S-IV, and Delta Cryogenic Second Stage upper stages. Built in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne (formerly by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne), the RL10 burns cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants, with each engine producing 64.7 to 110 kN (14,545–24,729 lbf) of thrust in vacuum depending on the version in use. The RL10 was the first liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be built in the United States, and development of the engine by Marshall Space Flight Center and Pratt & Whitney began in the 1950s, with the first flight occurring in 1961. Several versions of the engine have been flown, with three, the RL10A-4-2, the RL10B-2, and the RL10C-1 still being produced and flown on the Atlas V and Delta IV.

The engine produces a specific impulse (Isp) of 373 to 470 s (3.66–4.61 km/s) in a vacuum and has a mass ranging from 131 to 317 kg (289–699 lb) (depending on version). Six RL10A-3 engines were used in the S-IV second stage of the Saturn I rocket, one or two RL10 engines are used in the Centaur upper stages of Atlas and Titan rockets, and one RL10B-2 is used in the upper stage of Delta IV rockets.

Video Credit: Aerojet Rocketdyne

Copenhagen Suborbitals is the world’s only manned, amateur space program, 100% crowdfunded and nonprofit. In the future, one of us will fly to space on a home built rocket. Support the project!

Video Credit: Copenhagen Suborbitals

Wikipedia dicit:

The constellation of WGS satellites increases the communications capabilities of the militaries of the United States, Canada, and Australia by providing additional bandwidth and communications capabilities for tactical command and control, communications, and computers; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR); battle management; and combat support information. Canada has also signed on to become a partner.

WGS also augments the current Ka-band Global Broadcast Service (on UHF F/O satellites) by providing additional information broadcast capabilities as well as providing new two-way capability on that band. It provides services to the US DoD and Australian Department of Defence. The IWS System supports continuous 24-hour-per-day wideband satellite services to tactical users and some fixed infrastructure users. Limited protected services will be provided under conditions of stress to selected users employing terrestrial modems capable of providing protection against jamming.

Video Credit: ULA

NASA dicit:

Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket launched April 17 from the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, carrying the unpiloted Cygnus cargo spacecraft to orbit for its journey to deliver several tons of supplies and scientific experiments to the International Space Station. Dubbed the “SS Roger Chaffee” in honor of the NASA astronaut who died in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire in January 1967, Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at the station on April 19. It will remain at the space station until July 23, when it will depart, deploy NanoRacks customer CubeSats, and then have an extended mission in orbit until December. This will be the final mission under Northrop Grumman’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract with NASA before starting the CRS-2 contract missions this fall.

Video Credit: NASA