Atlas 5 launches missile warning satellite
Posted: Fri, May 21, 2021, 4:59 PM ET (2059 GMT)
An Atlas 5 successfully launched a missile warning satellite and two cubesats Tuesday. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:37 pm EDT (1737 GMT) and released its primary payload, the SBIRS GEO 5 satellite, into geosynchronous transfer orbit 43 minutes later. The satellite is the fifth of the Space Based Infrared System network of satellites and hosted payloads in geosynchronous Earth orbit and highly elliptical orbit designed to detect ballistic missile launches anywhere on the globe. Also on the launch were two 12U cubesats known as Technology Demonstration Orbiters TDO-3 and TDO-4, which carried multiple US government payloads for the US Air Force Academy.
An Atlas 5 successfully launched a missile warning satellite and two cubesats Tuesday. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:37 pm EDT (1737 GMT) and released its primary payload, the SBIRS GEO 5 satellite, into geosynchronous transfer orbit 43 minutes later. The satellite is the fifth of the Space Based Infrared System network of satellites and hosted payloads in geosynchronous Earth orbit and highly elliptical orbit designed to detect ballistic missile launches anywhere on the globe. Also on the launch were two 12U cubesats known as Technology Demonstration Orbiters TDO-3 and TDO-4, which carried multiple US government payloads for the US Air Force Academy.
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