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Chinese Cargo Spacecraft Burns Up in Earth’s Atmosphere

Chinese Cargo Spacecraft Burns Up in Earth’s Atmosphere
By Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist | September 25, 2017 03:57pm ET

Artist’s illustration of China’s robotic Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft docking with the Tiangong-2 space lab on April 22, 2017.

Credit: CMSE

China’s first resupply craft, Tianzhou-1, has been deorbited under orders from ground controllers.

Following a set of braking maneuvers, the robotic cargo ship plunged into Earth’s atmosphere and burned up late Friday (Sept. 22) Beijing time, according to China’s state-run Xinhua news agency.

Tianzhou-1 launched on April 20 and docked with China’s orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab two days later.

Over the past five months, Tianzhou-1 and Tiangong-2 accomplished a trio of refueling sequences: One on April 27, a second on June 15 and a final one on Sept. 16, Xinhua reported.

Tiangong-2 was unoccupied during these activities.

Chinese space officials view the refueling and docking activities as a prelude to the country’s building of a larger space station in the mid- 2020s.

Leonard David is author of “Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet,” published by National Geographic. The book is a companion to the National Geographic Channel series “Mars.” A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. This version of this story was posted on Space.com.

Secret Spy Satellite Launches Atop Atlas V Rocket

Secret Spy Satellite Launches Atop Atlas V Rocket
By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | September 24, 2017 01:58am ET

The United States has another eye in the sky.

The NROL-42 spy satellite lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base this morning (Sept. 24) at 1:49 a.m. EDT (0549 GMT; 10:49 p.m. Sept. 23 local California time), streaking skyward atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

NROL-42 is the latest addition to the fleet of spacecraft built and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). NRO satellite missions are classified, so it’s unclear what orbit NROL-42 will occupy, or what exactly the craft will be doing as it zooms around Earth. [The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever]

“This launch is the culmination of many months of work by United Launch Alliance, the National Reconnaissance Office and the 30th Space Wing,” Air Force Col. Gregory Wood, 30th Space Wing vice commander at Vandenberg, said in a prelaunch statement. “All of Team Vandenberg is dedicated to mission success and proud to play a part in delivering these capabilities to our nation.”

The National Reconnaissance Office's NROL-42 spy satellite lifts off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket early on Sept. 24, 2017. — The National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-42 spy satellite lifts off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket early on Sept. 24, 2017.

Credit: ULA

The National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-42 spy satellite lifts off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket early on Sept. 24, 2017.

Credit: ULA

Today’s liftoff marked the 15th time that an Atlas V lofted an NRO satellite. United Launch Alliance — a joint effort of aerospace companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing — now has a total of 25 NRO missions under its belt, all of them successes. (The other 10 involved Delta IV and Delta II rockets.)

The Atlas V has now flown 73 times since its 2002 debut and has not suffered a single mission failure. Notable payloads launched by the rocket include NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity, the New Horizons spacecraft and the OSIRIS-REx asteroid-sampling probe, as well as the U.S. Air Force’s robotic X-37B space plane. (The first four X-37B missions employed Atlas V rockets, though the fifth, which launched earlier this month, reached orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster.)

The NRO was established in 1961, just four years after the Soviet Union’s launch of the satellite Sputnik 1 kicked off the space age. The U.S. Department of Defense kept the NRO under wraps for more than three decades, finally revealing the agency’s existence in September 1992.

Today’s liftoff was originally scheduled to occur early Friday (Sept. 22), but ULA pushed it back to replace a faulty battery on the Atlas V.

Editor’s Note: Space.com senior producer Steve Spaleta contributed to this report.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

AUTHOR BIO

Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer: Michael was a science writer for the Idaho National Laboratory and has been an intern at Wired.com, The Salinas Californian newspaper, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He has also worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Mike on Google+.; Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer on