Rescue Wing Airmen clear range for Delta 4 rocket

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  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. --  Air Force Reserve combat-search-and-rescue Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., supported the successful launch of the United Launch Alliance Delta 5 rocket carrying a Global Positioning System 2F-3 satellite in the early morning hours of Oct. 4.

The Reserve Airmen work side-by-side their active duty counterparts at the 45th Space Wing to maintain safety on the range for each rocket that launches from the Space Coast.

Rescue Wing Airmen who pilot the HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter took flight several hours before the scheduled launch to secure the Eastern Range. They patrolled the stretch of Atlantic Ocean beneath the launch trajectory ensuring no mariners veered into harm's way of potential rocket debris hazards.

"(During a rocket launch) we'll stay airborne until the rocket launches, as long as the launch window remains open, "said Lt. Col. Robert Haston, 920th Pave Hawk pilot, and the chief of safety for the 920th RQW.

The GPS 2F-3 with greater accuracy, better jam-resistance and a new civilian aviation signal, will replace an aging GPS 2A-21 satellite that was launched by a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral on June 26, 1993. The Delta 4 flight will deploy the GPS 2F-3 satellite into an orbit 11,000 miles above the Earth in approximately 3 hours and 33 minutes.
 
"The GPS 2F satellites continue our efforts to modernize our PNT (position, navigation and timing) service and provide new space-based capabilities and ensure improved accuracy and signal availability," said Col. Steve R. Steiner, chief of the GPS Space Systems Division at the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center.

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Editor's note: Information for this article was compiled from a story written for Spaceflight Now "Its launch week for Delta 4 to upgrade GPS constellation" by Justin Ray.