New Horizons
Atlas V 551
United Launch Alliance
Mission
New Horizons
Type: Robotic Exploration
New Horizons is an interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA’s New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), with a team led by S. Alan Stern, the spacecraft was launched in 2006 with the primary mission to perform a flyby study of the Pluto system in 2015, and a secondary mission to fly by and study one or more other Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) in the decade to follow. It is the fifth artificial object to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System.
Trajectory
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Location
Space Launch Complex 41
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
889 rockets have launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.
Rocket
Atlas V 551 – United Launch Alliance
- Family: Atlas
- Length: 59.7 m
- Diameter: 3.8 m
- Launch Mass: 573 T
- Low Earth Orbit Capacity: 18850 kg
The Atlas V 551 was manufactured by United Launch Alliance with the first launch on 2006-01-19. Atlas V 551 has 12 successful launches and 0 failed launches with a total of 12 launches. Atlas V is an expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. It was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin and is now operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture with Boeing. Each Atlas V rocket uses a Russian-built RD-180 engine burning kerosene and liquid oxygen to power its first stage and an American-built RL10 engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to power its Centaur upper stage. The RD-180 engines are provided by RD Amross, while Aerojet Rocketdyne provides both the RL10 engines and the strap-on boosters used in some configurations. The standard payload fairing sizes are 4 or 5 meters in diameter and of various lengths. Fairings sizes as large as 7.2 m in diameter and up to 32.3 m in length have been considered. The rocket is assembled in Decatur, Alabama and Harlingen, Texas.
Agency
United Launch Alliance – ULA
- Type: Commercial
- Abbreviation: ULA
- Administration: CEO: Tory Bruno
- Founded: 2006
- Launchers: Atlas | Delta IV | Vulcan
- Spacecraft: CST-100 Starliner
- Country: USA
United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. ULA was formed in December 2006 by combining the teams at these companies which provide spacecraft launch services to the government of the United States. ULA launches from both coasts of the US. They launch their Atlas V vehicle from LC-41 in Cape Canaveral and LC-3E at Vandeberg. Their Delta IV launches from LC-37 at Cape Canaveral and LC-6 at Vandenberg.
How fast was it going when it cleared the tower and how guickly?