NASA awards launch services contract for IRIS mission
June 9th, 2010 - 4:56 am ICT by BNO NewsCAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) – NASA Tuesday awarded a contract to Orbital Sciences Corporation to launch the IRIS mission, NASA announced.
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft, also known as IRIS, will fly in December 2012 aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force in California.
The IRIS project is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The total cost of the IRIS launch services is approximately $40 million
Orbital Sciences is a company, based in Dulles, specialized in small space and rocket systems. Orbital is also entering an exciting new era of human space flight by providing the Launch Abort System for NASA’s next generation Orion Crew exploration vehicle as well as supplying commercial cargo resupply services for the International Space Station using Orbital’s new Taurus II rocket and Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft.
The IRIS mission will make detailed measures of the flow of energy and plasma through the sun’s atmosphere and heliosphere. The mission will also open a window of discovery into a crucial gap in current solar observational capabilities.
- NASA delays Glory launch - Feb 24, 2011
- First private spacecraft launch to ISS delayed - Apr 25, 2012
- NASA delays Glory launch for 24 hours - Feb 24, 2011
- NASA's Glory satellite will be launched on March 4 - Mar 02, 2011
- First private spacecraft launched to space station - May 22, 2012
- NASA's Orion 'moon' craft that could put man on asteroid unveiled - Mar 23, 2011
- SpaceX's Dragon's Maiden Journey Ends Successfully - Dec 09, 2010
- NASA hails new era in space - May 23, 2012
- SOHO reaches milestone after spotting 2000th comet - Dec 29, 2010
- Top secret US spy plane back after long sojourn - Dec 05, 2010
- Atlantis docks for last time with International Space Station - Jul 11, 2011
- First commercial spacecraft docks with space station - May 26, 2012
- NASA presents new launch system with eye on Mars - Sep 15, 2011
- NASA final shuttle launch scheduled for July 8 - May 21, 2011
- NASA launches probes to measure lunar gravity - Sep 11, 2011
Tags: cape canaveral florida, commercial cargo, crew exploration vehicle, goddard space flight, goddard space flight center, greenbelt maryland, human space flight, interface region, international space station, iris project, launch services, mission nasa, nasa awards, new taurus, observational capabilities, orbital sciences corporation, rocket systems, space flight center, taurus ii, vandenberg air force