Launch delayed from February 10 and July 30. The Genesis probe flew to the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrangian point and spend two years collecting samples of the solar wind. The collected samples were to be physically returned to Earth in a sample return capsule (air-snatch recovery was planned over Utah) and analysed in ground-based laboratories. On September 8, 2004, the Genesis space probe became the first spacecraft to return from beyond lunar orbit to the Earth's surface. The Genesis Sample Return Capsule separated from the spacecraft on September 8, 66,000 km above the Earth. The capsule successfully re-entered the atmosphere over Oregon at 11 km/s, but a wiring error resulted in the drogue parachute release mortar failing to fire at 33 km altitude. The capsule crashed to earth at 90 m/s in the Dugway Proving Ground at 40 07 40 N 113 30 29 W. Although the vehicle was smashed, some of the samples could be retrieved.
Delta II was an expendable launch system, originally designed and built by McDonnell Douglas. Delta II was part of the Delta rocket family and entered service in 1989. Delta II vehicles included the Delta 6000, and the two later Delta 7000 variants ("Light" and "Heavy"). The rocket flew its final mission ICESat-2 on 15 September 2018, earning the launch vehicle a streak of 100 successful missions in a row, with the last failure being GPS IIR-1 in 1997.
In September 2004, NASA’s Genesis return sample capsule tumbled from the sky and slammed into the Utah desert in a remote part of the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground, shattering […] The post Shattered Genesis spacecraft yields scientifi…
18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…
34th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commer…
Share-ride of 5 satellites to sun-synchronous orbit: * Taijing-3-05A/B * Tianyi-50 * Tianyan-27 * Jilin-1 HR-03D-55
2.8 tonnes Mass Simulator launched to a 900 km polar orbit on a test flight proving further upgrades to the ZQ-2E, including a longer 1st stage and e…
18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies with…
Thirteenth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Offi…
Ninth cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station.
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Ride-share of 45 satellites including: * CAS500-2 (KASA, South Korea) The South Korean CAS500-1 and -2 satellites will image the Earth in pan-chr…
A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.