First Step To Earth Orbit

Photo by Kyle Ryan

 The first Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite was successfully shipped across the country on 23 May 2010 aboard a C-5. The C-5B crew from Travis AFB, California, picked up the satellite at Moffett Federal Airfield in Sunnyvale, California, and arrived at the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida early the next morning. It was launched on an Atlas V launch vehicle from nearby Cape Canaveral AFS in late August. The AEHF system, which is expected to include four satellites, will provide US military and national leaders with global, protected, high capacity, and secure communications. AEHF is the successor to the five-satellite Milstar constellation. The AEHF satellite, the Atlas V launch vehicle, and the C-5 were all produced by Lockheed Martin.