A Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-27A boosted a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket into space today from Pad 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, carrying the GPSIIR-17 satellite, the latest addition to the Global Positioning Satellite constellation. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) company.
“The RS-27A, working with the Delta II, has been the first-stage engine for previously successful GPS missions,” said Elizabeth Jones, program manager for the RS-27A. “Next year, we’re scheduled to provide first-stage propulsion for three more GPS launches. That’s a very gratifying expression of customer confidence.”
This was the 218th mission for the RS-27 family. Working in concert with “strap-on” solid rocket boosters, the RS-27A provided the power to lift the Delta II rocket into space, where a second-stage engine continued the mission. The RS-27A generated more than 200,000 pounds of thrust until it reached main engine cutoff at four-and-one-half minutes into the flight.
The RS-27 family has been in operation for more than three decades, carrying satellites and exploratory spacecraft into orbit and to deep space. While its basic design has endured, enhancements and state-of-the art technologies have been added continually over the years.
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.
