A Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A rocket engine was the power behind a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket that carried the Italian Space Agency’s COSMO-SkyMed-2 satellite into the night skies above Vandenberg Air Force Base on Saturday night. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.
“We’re delighted to continue providing power to help in the creation of the COSMO constellation,” said Elizabeth Jones, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS- 27A program manager. “This successful mission — the 219th for the RS-27 family — continues a great track record that was established in 1974.”
Boosting the Delta II first stage, the RS-27A engine system fired for slightly over four minutes and produced 200,000 pounds of thrust. COSMO- SkyMed-2 joins SkyMed-1, launched with PWR power in June 2007, as the second in a configuration that will eventually include four satellites. COSMO stands for “Constellation of small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation.”
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc., a part of Pratt & Whitney, is a preferred provider of high-value propulsion, power, energy and innovative system solutions used in a wide variety of government and commercial applications, including the main engines for the space shuttle, Atlas and Delta launch vehicles, missile defense systems and advanced hypersonic engines.
Pratt & Whitney is a world leader in the design, manufacture and service of aircraft engines, space propulsion systems and industrial gas turbines. United Technologies, based in Hartford, Conn., is a diversified company providing high technology products and services to the global aerospace and building industries.
