The fifth GPS IIF satellite arrived at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., for its anticipated launch into orbit in October, announced Boeing on Tuesday. A C-17 carried GPS IIF-5 from Boeing’s satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif., to the cape last month, states the company’s Sept. 17 release. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket is slated to carry the navigation satellite into space. GPS-IIF-4 began operations on orbit earlier this year.
The Space Force is switching up rockets for its next GPS mission—and trying to go faster than ever in preparing the satellite for launch. The goal is to take the satellite bus from storage to orbit in around three months, well ahead of the 24 months it can sometimes take the…