Friday, February 5, 2016

2016: A Good Year for Rocketeers

Launch of Atlas V carrying the 12th GPS satellite for the US Air Force's Network of navigation satellites. Credit: United Launch Alliance.

This morning the weather looked clear as ULA launched another Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral, Florida. The GPS-IIF-12 satellite was successfully placed into orbit,  completing the constellation of navigation satellites planned by the USAF.  This was the first ULA Atlas V launch of the year, with a plan of 15 ULA launches throughout 2016. When you add these flights to the other commercial launches, and all the international launches scheduled this year, it looks to be an exciting time for fans of rocketry and satellite launches!

On my SpaceRubble blog, I don't usually cover every rocket launch, instead focusing on missions that support manned space projects or important exploration probes to the planets. But a rocket fan can easily keep up with all the blasting off, thanks to websites such as: 





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