Cape Launches Delta II

Airmen with Air Force Space Command’s 45th Space Wing coordinated launch operations last week at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., for a Boeing Delta II boosting two NASA solar research satellites into orbit. According to a NASA news release, the satellites will carry out a first-ever mission to measure solar flares and wind in 3-D. Their data will help NASA and USAF scientists understand how the sun produces space weather. That understanding can lead to better protection of satellites and Earth-bound power systems against damaging solar storms. The two spacecraft, known as “Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory,” or STEREO, will conduct the mission for two years.