White Sands Missile Range

Crew Flight Test a ‘Tremendously Historical Marker’ for NASA

By Bob Granath | June 5, 2024

In a crucial milestone for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the first crewed flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner launched into the Florida Space Coast skies at 10:52 a.m. EDT on June 5, 2024. The agency now has a second vehicle to send astronauts from American soil to and from the International Space Station. With two agency astronauts aboard, the Crew Flight Test (CFT) lifted off atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Dragon Re-entry Creates Rare Spectacle for Earthbound Viewers

By Bob Granath | September 18, 2023

A rocket thundering into space is a familiar sight for residents of Florida’s Space Coast. In the past two years, more than once a week windows rattle as launch vehicles send satellites to orbit and spacecraft on missions beyond Earth. However, those who were outside on a recent evening witnessed a rare spectacle. A spacecraft streaked across the night sky as four astronauts aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere.

Cape Canaveral: Historic Launch Pad for Exploration Beyond Earth

By Bob Granath | July 6, 2022

Marianna Triplett was working at the Pentagon, continuing the effort to transfer millions of men and women back to civilian life after they served in the military during World War II. One day during 1948, a U.S. Army general called her into his office and said he wanted to transfer her to Florida to assist with a “hush-hush secret program.” The new effort building Cape Canaveral Space Force Station would lead to some of the most historic achievements of the decades to come.

Boeing’s Starliner Lifts off for Orbital Flight Test

By Bob Granath | December 20, 2019

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program took another step forward with the successful launch of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner on an unpiloted Orbital Flight Test (OFT). The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off at 6:36 a.m. on Dec. 20, 2019 from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

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