NASA's Fast, Affordable, Science and Technology Satellite, or FASTSAT, moves one step closer to launch on Friday, Nov. 19, at 7:24 p.m. CST, from the Kodiak Launch Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska.
The Department of Defense Space Test Program at the Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., and Orbital Sciences Corp. of Chandler, Ariz., concluded a successful Launch Readiness Review for the Space Test Program STP-S26 mission on Nov. 17.
This is one of the final reviews before payloads are sent to space.
FASTSAT will carry six small payloads to low Earth orbit, demonstrating a critical ability to provide low-cost and rapid response opportunities for scientific and technical payloads to get to space.
FASTSAT is NASA's first microsatellite designed to create a capability that increases opportunities for secondary, scientific and technology payloads, or rideshares, to be flown at lower cost than previously possible.
It serves as a bus or platform that puts scientific research on the affordable fast track for governmental, academic and industry researchers.
The FASTSAT mission is a joint activity between NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense Space Test Program. The satellite was designed, developed and tested at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in partnership with the Von Braun Center for Science and Innovation and Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville.
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