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Last year NASA bought the space mission equivalent of a lottery ticket, a small bet on a mission which has the odds stacked against it, but could be a win on many levels. This is the last TriStar, launching the last Pegasus, carrying a never before flown spacecraft that offers the Swift telescope's last chance to avoid destruction. NASA offered a small contract to attempt a mission to re-boost an old telescope which would otherwise burn up, $30million seemed too small, but Katalyst stepped up with work they'd already been doing on satellite servicing, and in the process they got...

The space vehicle launch company owned by the late Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, has confirmed that it's still operational, following a report that it was closing shop. Earlier Friday, Reuters said four sources told it that Stratolaunch Systems Corporation would be closing down. Stratolaunch has been developing a series of space launch vehicles including a super-sized aircraft. In August 2018, the company unveiled a lineup of vehicles. The Stratolaunch plane was designed to launch a Pegasus XL rocket, with the company also designing three other launch vehicles including a three-core rocket that would carry 15 times the Pegasus payload,...

MINNEAPOLIS, April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK - News) solid propulsion and composite technologies supported the successful launch yesterday of an Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB - News) air-launched Pegasus XL® rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Pegasus XL carried NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite into space. ATK's Orion solid propulsion motors provided power for all three stages of the air-launch vehicle. The motors, which have flown on all Pegasus rockets since its first mission in 1990, are manufactured in Salt Lake City, Utah. The composite payload fairing, filament-wound solid rocket motor...