Author Topic: SpaceX secures contract to launch NASA's SPHEREx astrophysics mission  (Read 345 times)

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Space.com By Chelsea Gohd 2/5/2021

https://www.space.com/spacex-launch-contract-nasa-spherex-mission

SpaceX will be launching an astrophysics mission into Earth's orbit for NASA.

NASA has selected the spaceflight company to launch the SPHEREx mission (short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer), NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California announced Thursday (Feb. 4).

The 329-lb. (178 kilograms) craft will hitch a ride to space aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, set to launch as early as June 2024, from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch will be managed by NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Still, NASA JPL remains in charge of overall project management, systems engineering, integration, testing and mission operations for the mission, agency officials said in a statement.