Northrop Satellite Put to Bed
The U.S. Air Force on Thursday decommissioned the Northrop Grumman-built Flight 19 satellite of the Defense Support Program.
Launched nine years ago, Flight 19 was built by Northrop's Redondo Beach-based Space Technology sector.
Satellites for the Defense Support Program, or DSP, were built to give the U.S. military early warning of intercontinental ballistic missile launches.
However, Flight 19 was used for other missions including serving as a test bed to check command and control procedures and providing other information such as how radiation exposure affects satellite systems.
The first DSP built by Northrop for the Air Force was launched in 1970. The last DSP was launched in November of last year.