NASA, ULA successfully launch Solar Orbiter

Late Sunday night in Cape Canaveral, Florida, NASA’s Solar Orbiter lifted off atop United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V rocket.

Made at ULA’s 1.6 million square foot plant in Decatur, the Atlas V notched its 82nd successful mission as it jumpstarted what will be a decade-long expedition to study the sun.

“The ULA team is extremely honored to launch Solar Orbiter, enabling more discovery of our sun,” said Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs in a statement from the company. “Thank you to our NASA and international mission partners for the outstanding teamwork.”

Solar Orbiter is a spacecraft that will deliver never-before-seen views of the sun while providing new information on how the star affects space weather. Scientists hope to collect data that will help them gain a better understanding of the sun’s behavior.

According to officials at NASA, Solar Orbiter will spend about three months in its commissioning phase, during which the mission team will run checks on the spacecraft’s 10 scientific instruments to ensure they are working properly.

It will take Solar Orbiter about two years to reach its primary science orbit.

Alabamians played crucial roles in this incredibly complex launch.

In addition to the Atlas V rocket having been built in Alabama, the person overseeing the launch for NASA is a native Alabamian.

Tim Dunn, NASA launch director at Kennedy Space Center, was born and raised in Arab and is a University of Alabama graduate.

This is the second mission in as many years that ULA has powered to the sun. In 2018, one of its Alabama-built Delta IV Heavy rockets launched the Parker Solar Probe. The spacecraft achieved a milestone recently when the probe passed within 11 million miles of the sun. No spacecraft had ever flown that close before.

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ULA rockets have now powered more than 135 missions with a 100% success rate.

Tim Howe is an owner of Yellowhammer Multimedia