Skid Strip – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: Pegasus rocket successfully fires into orbit

December 12, 2016 Stephen Clark

An Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket carrying eight hurricane research satellites for NASA fired into orbit Thursday at 8:37 a.m. EST (1337 GMT) off the east coast of Florida.

Photos: Orbital ATK’s temporary Pegasus home base at Cape Canaveral

December 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

Take a look around the L-1011 jetliner, Pegasus rocket, and ground support gear at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Skid Strip for Monday’s scheduled launch of eight microsatellites to listen for winds inside hurricanes.

Video: Inside the CYGNSS satellite factory and the Pegasus carrier aircraft

December 11, 2016 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Now visited the CYGNSS production facility at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and the Pegasus XL rocket’s carrier plane at Cape Canaveral for rare looks at hardware that make NASA’s $157 million hurricane research mission possible.

Photos: Hurricane research satellites readied for launch

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight miniature weather observatories, each the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were installed on a specially-designed deployer module and mounted on the front end of an air-launched Pegasus XL rocket to prepare for Monday’s flight into orbit.

NASA-funded satellite fleet could give hurricane forecasting a boost

December 10, 2016 Stephen Clark

Eight mini-satellites packed snug inside a Pegasus rocket slung under a modified jumbo jet will fire into orbit Monday off Florida’s East Coast, launching on a $157 million NASA mission that could help forecasters better predict how strong hurricanes will be when they strike land.