Wing Installed on Pegasus XL for CYGNSS

Inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, technicians and engineers perform final wing installations on 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. CYGNSS will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes.

Photo credit: NASA/Alex Valdez