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ATK Motors Launch Orbital's Pegasus XL Rocket Carrying NASA Solar Imaging Satellite

Feb 6, 2002

Solid propulsion rocket motors produced by ATK (Alliant Techsystems) (NYSE: ATK) helped launch an Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) Pegasus® XL vehicle on Feb. 5 that placed into orbit a NASA solar imaging satellite.

ATK Thiokol Propulsion, Promontory, Utah, manufactures the Orion motors at its production facility in Magna, Utah. The motors, which provide power for all three stages of the air-launched Pegasus XL rocket, have flown on the vehicle since its first mission in 1990.

Positioned 373 miles above the Earth, the NASA High Energy Solar Spectrographic Imager (HESSI) spacecraft launched by the Pegasus rocket will measure the location, content, speed, and direction of solar flares -- the most powerful explosions in the solar system. The research will help NASA scientists more accurately predict solar eruptions and assess their effect on Earth and space.

Since its maiden flight in 1990, Orbital's Pegasus rocket has conducted 31 missions and launched more than 70 satellites -- becoming the world's standard for affordable and reliable small launch vehicles. An Orbital L-1011 aircraft carries the rocket to approximately 40,000 feet over open ocean, where it is released and falls in a horizontal position for five seconds before igniting its first-stage Orion motor. Approximately ten minutes into the flight, the third-stage Orion motor completes its burn, thrusting the satellite payload into orbit.

The composite payload fairing for the Pegasus vehicle is produced by ATK Aerospace Composite Structures, Clearfield, Utah.

ATK is the world's leading supplier of solid propulsion systems for space, strategic, and tactical applications. Products include propulsion systems for NASA's Space Shuttle, unmanned space launch vehicles, strategic missiles, tactical missiles, and satellites.

ATK is a $2 billion aerospace and defense company with leading positions in propulsion, composite structures, munitions, and precision capabilities. The company, which is headquartered in Edina, Minn., employs approximately 11,200 people and has two business groups: Aerospace and Defense. ATK news and information can be found on the Internet at http://www.atk.com/ .

SOURCE: Alliant Techsystems

Contact: Investors, Steve Wold, +1-952-351-3056, steve_wold@atk.com, or
Media, Rod Bitz, +1-952-351-3063, rod_bitz@atk.com, both of ATK