Air Force set to launch experimental Super Strypi rocket on ORS-4 mission

As the sun sets on the western horizon Nov. 2, it backlights the experimental Super Strypi launch vehicle mounted on the world's largest rail launcher in preparation for its maiden flight the following afternoon. Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, Calif., in partnership with the Operationally Responsive Space Office and Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, the University of Hawaii/Hawaii Space Flight Laboratory, the Pacific Missile Range Facility and the Aerojet Rocketdyne Corporation in Rancho Cordova (Sacramento), Calif., prepared the ORS-4 demonstration mission to establish baseline performance of this new launch capability to place 13 small satellites into polar orbit from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii. (U.S. Air Force photo)