![]() It also drives schedule flexibility and responsiveness into the NSS mission planning process, shortening the timeline for NSSL to deliver capability to the warfighter. This deployment sequence is a game-changer for future Air Force multi-mission payloads as it creates new rideshare opportunities for smaller National Security Space payloads requiring different orbits than a mission’s primary payload. Lifting off just before sunrise from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral AFS and aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551, the mission’s 12-unit CubeSat secondary payload deployed before the primary payload. On August 8, the multi-payload Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF)-5 mission accomplished another first for the NSSL program. The Peacekeeper ICBM motor performed as designed, and RSLP personnel are very proud of their contribution to NASA’s crewed spaceflight program. This ATB, the last vehicle to launch under RSLP’s Sounding Rocket Program (SRP)-3 contract, hit NASA’s test point perfectly, placing the Orion test article at the crucial flight condition to maximize test values and prove the abort system is astronaut-ready. This mission used a custom-built Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Abort Test Booster, employing a refurbished Peacekeeper ICBM motor, to test NASA’s Launch Abort System for their future crewed Orion spacecraft. July 2 saw the successful Ascent Abort (AA)-2 mission for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral AFS. All 24 satellites were successfully deployed to their intended orbits and are now operational. Not only did this afford valuable insight into the launch vehicle reuse process, it was also a validation flight for Falcon Heavy under the National Security Space Launch’s new entrant program. The second successful SpaceX mission under the Orbital Suborbital Program (OSP)-3 contract marked the first Air Force mission to fly with previously flown boosters. The campaign began June 25 with the Rocket Systems Launch Program’s late night launch of the Space Test Program (STP)-2 mission on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A. Launching four critical missions in under 60 days from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, SMC/LE’s “Summer of Launch ’19” campaign showcased several innovative firsts and concluded with the end of an era. With the August 22 launch of Lockheed Martin’s GPS III SV02 satellite aboard the final Delta IV Medium+ (4,2) launch vehicle, the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise marked the successful completion of a rigorous Summer launch schedule. LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, EL SEGUNDO, Calif.
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