Jane Edwards
A Millennium Space Systems-built satellite took off Thursday aboard Firefly Aerospace‘s Alpha rocket from a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of a Space Systems Command-led Tactically Responsive Space mission, called Victus Nox.
The liftoff occurred 27 hours after the U.S. Space Force issued a launch order for the TacRS mission, SSC said Thursday.
The launch “marks a culture shift in our nation’s ability to deter adversary aggression and, when required, respond with the operational speed necessary to deliver decisive capabilities to our warfighters,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander of SSC.
Firefly completed the payload encapsulation, fueling operations, trajectory software updates and other final launch preparations within 24 hours of receiving the launch notice and orbit requirements from the service branch.
Bill Weber, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, said the government-industry team carried out the responsive space mission at record speed, reflecting a key capability to meet national security requirements.
In late August, Firefly and Millennium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, entered into a six-month hot standby phase for the Victus Nox mission.
