The U.S. Air Force has released the first-ever photos of the Super Strypi launch vehicle, a souped-up version of a Cold War-era sounding rocket about to be shot into orbit on a unique demonstration flight with 13 small satellites.
The military previously only showed photos of a ground mockup of the Super Strypi.
Sporting aerodynamic fins and standing 67 feet tall, the Super Strypi will fire off a rail launcher at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, as soon as Tuesday. The flight is experimental, but 13 satellites are fastened inside the nose cone for the University of Hawaii, NASA, and university and commercial CubeSat developers.
The Super Strypi launch vehicle is fastened to a rail launch system at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. Credit: U.S. Air ForceThe Super Strypi launch vehicle is fastened to a rail launch system at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. Credit: U.S. Air ForceThe Super Strypi launch vehicle is fastened to a rail launch system at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. Credit: U.S. Air ForceThe rail launch system used by the Super Strypi vehicle is modified from the rail launcher from the Scout rocket program retired in the 1990s. It stands more than 100 feet tall. Credit: University of HawaiiThe U.S. Air Force published this diagram of the Super Strypi launch vehicle in an environmental assessment for the ORS-4 launch. Credit: U.S. Air Force
A replay of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket launching the Global Positioning System 2F-11 navigation spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy mission, set for April 18 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will launch a powerhouse bus-sized broadband satellite for Viasat into a high-altitude circular geostationary orbit, a demanding flight profile that will require disposal of all three of the rocket’s reusable boosters.
Follow the key events of the Falcon 9 rocket’s ascent to orbit with five more Iridium Next communications satellite and the U.S.-German GRACE-Follow On climate research mission.
