A pathfinder aircraft takes off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The airplane will provide photographic and video imagery of the Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft carrying a Pegasus XL Rocket with eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft. With the aircraft flying off shore, the Pegasus rocket will be released. Five seconds later, the solid propellant engine will ignite and boost the eight hurricane observatories to orbit. The eight CYGNSS satellites will make frequent and accurate measurements of ocean surface winds thr

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A pathfinder aircraft takes off from the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The airplane will provide photographic and video imagery of the Orbital ATK L-1011 Stargazer aircraft carrying a Pegasus XL Rocket with eight NASA Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System, or CYGNSS, spacecraft. With the aircraft flying off shore, the Pegasus rocket will be released. Five seconds later, the solid propellant engine will ignite and boost 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. NASA FA-18B chase plane during CYGNSS launch campaign (KSC-20161215-PH SWW01 0023)

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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