An Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft descends toward the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The aircraft carried a Pegasus XL Rocket with eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, for launch. With the aircraft flying off shore, the Pegasus rocket was released. Five seconds later, the solid propellant engine ignited and boosted the eight hurricane observatories to orbit. The eight CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. Release of the Peg

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An Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft descends toward the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The aircraft carried a Pegasus XL Rocket with eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, for launch. With the aircraft flying off shore, the Pegasus rocket was released. Five seconds later, the solid propellant engine ignited and boosted the eight hurricane observatories to orbit. The eight CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds throughout the life cycle of tropical storms and hurricanes. Release of the Pegasus XL rocket occurred at 8:37 EST. Stargazer lands at Cape Canaveral after CYGNSS campaign (KSC-20161215-PH SWW01 0085)

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Size: 1936px × 1291px
Photo credit: © NASA Image Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -1011, astronomy, atk, copy, cygnss, editorial, hurricanes, microsatellites, nasa, news, night, orbital, pegasus, photograph, photography, rocket, satellite, skid, sky, space, stargazer, stock, strip, weather, xl