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Omelek Island
Omelek Island (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: , pronounced ) is part of the Kwajalein, Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is controlled by the United States military under a long-term lease (along with ten other islands in the atoll) and is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site. Geography The Island is about in size. Geologically, it is composed of reef, reef-rock, as are the other islands in the atoll, which is created by the accumulation of marine organism remnants (corals, Mollusca, etc.). Sand and weeds comprise the remainder of the terrain, the loose nature of which caused issues for SpaceX employees transporting material when Omelek was used for Falcon 1 launches. Rocket launches Omelek has long been used by the United States for small research rocket launches due to its relative isolation in the South Pacific. The last U.S. government rocket launch from the island occurred in 1996. After 2000 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocket Launch Sites
This article constitutes a list of rocket launch sites. Some of these sites are known as spaceports or cosmodromes. A single rocket launch is sufficient for inclusion in the table, as long as the site is properly documented through a reference. Missile locations with no launches are not included in the list. Proposed and planned sites and sites under construction are not included in the main tabulation, but may appear in condensed lists under the tables. A shorter list of spaceports for human spaceflight and satellite launches is available in the article Spaceport. Table specification Sorting order * Countries in alphabetical order within a table * Launch sites within a country are sorted chronologically according to start of operations Column specification * Country – territory of the site (the organisation responsible for the launches may reside elsewhere, as indicated in the notes column; * Location – Name of launch site (sometimes also province etc.) * Coordinates – ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kwajalein Atoll
Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ) is part of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking residents (about 1,000 mostly U.S. civilian personnel) often use the shortened name, Kwaj . The total land area of the atoll amounts to just over . It lies in the Ralik, Ralik Chain, southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii. The US Navy has hosted a naval base on Kwajalein Island since World War II. It was the final resting place of the German cruiser ''German cruiser Prinz Eugen, Prinz Eugen'' after it survived the Operation Crossroads nuclear test in 1946. In the late 1950s, the US Army took over the base as part of their Nike Zeus anti-ballistic missile efforts, and since then the atoll has been widely used for missile tests of all sorts. Today it is part of the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, with various radars, tracking camera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in the world since 2021; ''Forbes'' estimates his net worth to be . Born to a wealthy family in Pretoria, South Africa, Musk emigrated in 1989 to Canada. He received bachelor's degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997 before moving to California, United States, to pursue business ventures. In 1995, Musk co-founded the software company Zip2. Following its sale in 1999, he co-founded X.com, an online payment company that later merged to form PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002. That year, Musk also became an American citizen. In 2002, Musk founded the space technology company SpaceX, becoming its CEO and chief engineer; the company has since led innovations in reusable rockets and commercial spaceflight. Musk joined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aur Atoll
Aur Atoll ( Marshallese: , ) is a coral atoll of 42 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only , but it encloses a lagoon with an area of . It is located south of Maloelap Atoll. The population of Aur Atoll was 317 in 2021. History Aur Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885. After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of Japan. Following the end of World War II, Aur came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. It became part of independent Republic of the Marshall Islands in 1986. Sister City Aur Atoll has Taoyuan, Taiwan Taoyuan () is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County, Taiwan, Yilan County to the south-east, and Hsinchu County to the south-west. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wake Island
Wake Island (), also known as Wake Atoll, is a coral atoll in the Micronesia subregion of the Pacific Ocean. The atoll is composed of three islets – Wake, Wilkes, and Peale Islands – surrounding a lagoon encircled by a coral reef. The nearest inhabited island is Utirik Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located to the southeast. The island may have been found by prehistoric Austronesian peoples, Austronesian mariners before its first recorded discovery by Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in 1568. Ships continued visiting the area in the following centuries, but the island remained undeveloped until the United States claimed it in 1899. Significant development of the island did not begin until 1935 when Pan American Airways constructed an airfield and hotel, establishing Wake Island as a stopover for Transpacific flight, trans-Pacific flying boat routes. In December 1941 at the opening of the Pacific War, Pacific Theatre of World War II Japan Battle of Wake Island, seized the island ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astra (American Spaceflight Company)
Astra Space, Inc., formerly known as Ventions, LLC from 2005 - 2016, is an American space company based in Alameda, California, with facilities in Sunnyvale, California and Atwater, California. The company was initially an aerospace technology research firm that focused on SBIR contracts, developing small rocket engines for use on launch vehicles and satellite propulsion. In 2012, the company shifted to developing launch vehicles and was selected for the DARPA ALASA program, eventually leading to the development and launch of the Astra Rocket series of launch vehicle utilizing both government and private funding after reincorporating itself to Astra Space, Inc. in 2016. The company would have their first successful launch in 2021, nine years after the start of development, after 6 previous failed attempts. Astra became publicly traded in 2021 through a SPAC merger, reaching a valuation of over $3 billion. The company diversified to become a satellite propulsion manufactu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, and the first commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched on October 8, 2012. In 2020, it became the first commercial rocket to launch humans to orbit. The Falcon 9 has been noted for its reliability and high launch cadence, with successful launches, two in-flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction. It is the most-launched American orbital rocket in history. The rocket has two-stage-to-orbit, two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payload to a predetermined speed and altitude, after which the second stage accelerates the payload to its target orbit. The Booster (rocketry), booster is capable of Vertical takeoff, vertical landing, landing vertically to fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Falcon 1e
SpaceX manufactures launch vehicles to operate its launch provider services and to execute its various exploration goals. SpaceX manufactures and operates two members of the Falcon 9 family, the Falcon 9 Block 5 medium-lift launch vehicle and the Falcon Heavy heavy-lift launch vehicle – both of which are powered by SpaceX Merlin engines and employ VTVL technologies to reuse the first stage. As of 2024, the company is also developing the fully reusable Starship launch system, which will replace Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon. SpaceX's first launch vehicle, the Falcon 1, was the first privately developed liquid fueled launch vehicle to be launched into orbit, and used SpaceX's Merlin and Kestrel engines for its first and second stages, respectively. It was launched five times from Omelek Island between 2006 and 2009 – the Falcon 1e and Falcon 5 variants were planned but never developed. The Falcon 9 v1.0, using upgraded Merlin engines on both its stages, was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RazakSAT
RazakSAT was a Malaysian Earth observation satellite carrying a high-resolution camera. It was launched into low Earth orbit on 14 July 2009. It was placed in a near-equatorial orbit that presents many imaging opportunities for the equatorial region. It weighs over three times as much as TiungSAT-1 and carries a high-resolution Earth observation camera. Developed in conjunction with the Satrec Initiative, the satellite's low inclination (9 degrees) brought it over Malaysia a dozen or more times per day. This was intended to provide greatly increased coverage of Malaysia compared to most other Earth observation satellites. An audit report released in October 2011 revealed that the satellite had failed after one year of operation. RazakSAT was the only operational satellite to be put into orbit by SpaceX's Falcon 1. Background This satellite is Malaysia's second remote sensing satellite after TiungSAT-1. Originally called MACSAT, RazakSAT's payload is mainly electro-optical, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Launch Vehicle
A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a missile launch control center, launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling. Launch vehicles are engineered with advanced aerodynamics and technologies, which contribute to high operating costs. An orbital spaceflight, orbital launch vehicle must lift its payload at least to the boundary of space, approximately and accelerate it to a horizontal velocity of at least . Suborbital spaceflight, Suborbital vehicles launch their payloads to lower velocity or are launched at elevation angles greater than horizontal. Practical orbital launch vehicles use chemical prope ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
