Cape Canaveral – Astronomy Now

Live coverage: The launch of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission

8 September 2016 Justin Ray

Beginning a 4.4-billion-mile trek to retrieve a sample from Asteroid Bennu for return to Earth, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft blasted off atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral at 12:05 a.m. BST (2305 GMT).

Probe hoisted aboard launcher to leave Earth next week on asteroid adventure

31 August 2016 Justin Ray

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft moved a step closer to starting a voyage to explore an uncharted world in our solar system — the mountain-sized Asteroid Bennu — by joining the booster rocket that will propel it from Earth next week.

Voyager 2 launched today in 1977

20 August 2016 Astronomy Now

On this day in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft, the first Voyager spacecraft to launch, departed on a journey that would take it to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune and beyond.

Atlas rocket puts on a spectacular pre-dawn sky show

3 September 2015 Astronomy Now

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket soared into the sunlight after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, creating a spectacular sky show.