The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
Students from the University of Nebraska at Omaha have once again sent experiments to near-space through two high-altitude balloon launches – this time in support of a unique opportunity to launch a small satellite into orbit.
Nanoracks launches two CubeSats on NG-15 Cygnus
02/23/2021 2 Minutes Read
The NG-15 Cygnus spacecraft berthed with the International Space Station (ISS), carrying two CubeSats in the Nanoracks External Cygnus Deployer (E-NRCSD). The Cygnus arrived at the ISS after launching from Wallops Flight Facility Pad 0A on February 22, 2021 at 17:36 UTC. In celebration of Black History Month, the NG-15 Cygnus has been named in honor of Katherine Johnson, a NASA mathematician who had a vital role in early human space flight missions.
This launch is Nanoracks’ ninth mission providing opportunities for CubeSat deployment from the Cygnus. The CubeSats onboard today’s launch, IT-SPINS and MySat-2 (DhabiSat), were built by students and researchers at Montana State University and Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi.
Virgin Orbit s LauncherOne reaches orbit on second attempt
LauncherOne roars into orbit after being dropped by the Cosmic Girl mothership
Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit
It was the second time s a charm as Virgin Orbit s airdropped LauncherOne rocket put 10 NASA CubeSat payloads into low-Earth orbit on the second attempt in less than eight months under the space agency s Launch Services Program (LSP).
On January 17, 2021, at 10:50 am PST (18:50 GMT), the 747-800 Cosmic Girl mothership with the LauncherOne rocket attached to a wing pylon took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. After taking up position about 50 miles (80 km) south of the Channel Islands off the coast of California, the two-stage rocket was dropped before automatically firing and powering into orbit. A previous launch attempt in May 2020 was cut short due to an inflight anomaly.
Virgin Orbit launched its first rocket to successfully reach Earth orbit on Sunday. The rocket launched from a modified Boeing 747 and carried 10 small satellites for NASA.