Four and a half months after its launch on a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle has made history, successfully docking with its target satellite above Geostationary Orbit to extend that satellite’s lifetime well beyond the original plan.
The successful maneuver marked a groundbreaking change in how satellites are operated in orbit, with the Mission Extension Vehicle capable of not just extending a satellite’s life but also moving defunct satellites to safer orbits.