Pegasus ICON Spacecraft Mate to Separation System
Technicians prepare NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) to be attached to the spacecraft separation system May 9, 2018, in a clean room inside Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The explorer will launch on June 15, 2018, from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands (June 14 in the continental United States) on Orbital ATK's Pegasus XL rocket, which is attached to the company's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.
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Details
NASA ID
VAFB-20180509-PH_ANV01_0029
Date Created
May 9, 2018
Center
KSC
Media Type
image
Photographer
USAF 30th Space Wing/Alex Valdez
Location
Bldg 1555
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