OSP Space Launch Vehicle Launched
30th Space Wing Public Affairs
RELEASE NUMBER 00-0109
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CA — Team Vandenberg launched the first Orbital Suborbital Program Space
Launch Vehicle today at 7:03 p.m., to validate the OSP Space Launch Vehicle’s spacelift capability.
Air Force personnel will determine the mission’s success by evaluating the data responsible for measuring the
successful separation of payloads and their ability to be deployed into the correct orbit.
The launch team consists of members of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center,
Orbital Sciences Corporation, Spaceport Systems International, TRW and NASA. The spacelift commander for
the mission was Col. Charles Phillips, vice commander, 30th Space Wing.
“We are very proud of the men and women of Team Vandenberg for their support in making the first-ever
launch of an Orbital Suborbital Program Space Launch Vehicle a success,” Phillips said.
The OSP is the result of combining an Air Force Minuteman II first and second stage rocket motor and an
Orbital Sciences built Pegasus XL third and fourth stage rocket motor. The Minuteman II was initially used by
the Air Force as an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. It was later deactivated as an offensive weapon system by
the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1991.
The creation of the OSP rocket is part of an Air Force effort to utilize surplus Minuteman II components to
conduct reliable, economical and efficient spacelift operations.
The payloads for this launch are integrated to the Joint Air Force Academy Weber State University, or
JAWSAT, multi-payload adapter. The four payloads are the U.S. Air Force Academy’s FalconSat, Arizona State
University’s ASUSAT, Stanford University’s OPAL satellite and the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Optical
Calibration Sphere Experiment. Also attached to the multi-payload adapter are two experiments: NASA
Marshall Space Flight Center’s Plasma Experiment Satellite and Weber State University’s Attitude Controlled
Platform. For more information on the payloads visit the JAWSAT website at
http://cast.weber.edu/jawsat/jawsat.html
– 30 SW –
NOTE TO EDITORS: Still photos and video images of the launch will be available at Vandenberg’s Visitor Center
no earlier than 10 p.m., today. To verify availability, call the Visitor Center at, (805) 606-7662.
