Wednesday night’s launch of the Defense Department’s first Operationally Responsive Space satellite was successful, according to Air Force space officials. They said the prototype imagery satellite deployed 12 minutes after its liftoff aboard a Minotaur I launch vehicle from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s eastern shore. “Words cannot express how proud I am of the entire ORS-1 team,” including Air Force, DOD, and industry personnel, said Col. Carol Welsch, acting director of USAF’s Space Development and Test Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M. She was also the ORS-1 mission director. ORS-1 is designed to provide commanders at the tactical level with overhead imagery to enhance their battlespace awareness. (Los Angeles release)
NATO will start a major exercise at the end of the month to practice the ability of allied air forces to operate in a contested environment, officials said March 24.