Pegasus XL First Stage Arrives for CYGNSS

Inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers offload the first stage motor for the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket which will launch eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft. When preparations are completed at Vandenberg, the rocket, with CYGNSS in its payload fairing, will be attached to the Orbital ATK L-1011 carrier aircraft and transported to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On Dec. 12, 2016, the carrier aircraft is scheduled to take off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and CYGNSS will launch on the Pegasus XL rocket with the L-1011 flying off shore.

Photo credit: NASA/Tony Vauclin