News>Rescue Wing Reservists support successful rocket launch
Story at a Glance
• Air Force Reservists from the 920th Rescue Wing supported the successful United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch into space August 6. • Rescue Wing Airman perform range clearing operations using their HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters to clear the Eastern Range • Range clearing is only one part of the unit's peacetime mission.
Photos
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Airmen from the 920th Rescue Wing here, prior to ever rocket launch from the Space Coast, clear the path to space like they did for Space Shuttle Endeavor prior to lifting off for the International Space Station May 16, 2011. This was its last launch and NASA's second to the last space shuttle lift off from nearby Kennedy Space Center. The shuttle program ended July 2011, but a steady stream of rocket launches continue to reach for the stars. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Anna-Marie Wyant)
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Patrolling the Eastern Range like they did for this Trident Rocket launch, 920th Rescue Wing Reservists ensure safety and secuirty for all launches from the Space Coast. (U.S. Air Force photo/Lt. Col. Robert Haston)
by Airman 1st Class Natasha Dowridge
920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
8/7/2011 - PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Air Force Reservists from the 920th Rescue Wing here supported the successful United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch into space August 6. The ULA was carrying the Juno spacecraft for NASA.
Juno launched at 12:25 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and is tasked with investigating the formation, evolution and structure of the planet Jupiter from an elliptical orbit.
The 920th RQW provided search-and-rescue support for NASA's manned spaceflight missions from the Mercury project in 1961 through the space shuttle program, which ended in July. While there are currently no missions requiring astronaut search-and-rescue operations, the 920th RWQ continues to support NASA's rocket launch missions.
Rescue Wing Airmen perform range-clearing operations using their HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters to clear a 2,000 square mile area of the Eastern Range, a launch area that extends east of the Atlantic Ocean for all Space Coast rocket launches. By providing range clearing, they ensure mariners keep their ships and boats a safe distance from the rocket launch path and out of harm's way should the rocket dismantle.
Debris (from the rocket) could fall from the sky as far out as 80 miles down the range, said Lt. Col. Rhys Hunt, a Pave Hawk helicopter pilot here. Rescue Wing Airmen could also assist medically if something was to happen to the rocket and debris somehow hurt someone.
Being equipped with unique combat search-and-rescue skills and equipment, Rescue Wing Airmen are the most qualified in the world to respond to any emergency scenario.
"The day before the launch we do mission planning," Hunt said. "We get the coordinates for the area that we need to search and clear...we met the tasking as directed."
In the next six months NASA, has three more missions scheduled in which the Rescue Reservists will continue to provide range-clearing and rescue support if needed.
Range clearing is only one part of the unit's peacetime mission. The other peacetime missions are providing search-and-rescue support for civilians at sea who are lost or in distress, and providing humanitarian and disaster-relief operations.
