US Space Force TacRL-2 Mission Launches Atop Pegasus XL Rocket Written 14 June 2021
A Pegasus XL rocket attached beneath Orbital ATK's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft; NASA/Lori Losey; Wikipedia; Public Domain
Space News reports that at 4:11 a.m. EDT Sunday, Northrop Grumman launched the US Space Force Tactically Responsive Launch-2 (TacRL-2) mission atop a Pegasus XL rocket. The payload “was successfully deployed its intended orbit, a Space Force spokesman confirmed on Sunday.” TacRL-2 “is a technology demonstration satellite to be used for space surveillance.” The Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Safari office “integrated the satellite built and operated by the Air Force Research Laboratory and Utah State University Space Dynamics Laboratory.” TacRL-2 “is named after the Space Force’s tactically responsive launch program, an effort to figure out ways to shrink the timelines for planning space missions.”
Full Story (Space News)