Mo Brooks congratulates Decatur-based company’s successful solar probe launch

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Delta IV Heavy Propellant
[Photo Credit: NASA]

A Decatur-based rocket building company United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced the successful launch of the Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Parker Solar Probe on Saturday.

Alabama 5th District U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks congratulated ULA on a successful launch on Facebook, saying:

“Congratulations to Decatur-based United Launch Alliance on successfully launching the #ParkerSolarProbe, which will study the sun’s outer atmosphere and space weather. Yesterday’s launch continues ULA’s unbroken streak of successful launches and is a remarkable testament to the great work of ULA’s talented employees who built the rocket in Decatur. I look forward to all that we will learn from the probe as it transmits information back to Earth on its journey to the sun’s orbit.”

Brooks has long been a supporter of national space programs, and is the founding member of the The House National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Caucus, dedicated to bringing attention to ​space agency’s economic and national security importance and serve as a forum to educate policymakers on current NASA initiatives.

The Parker Solar Probe

The Parker Solar Probe will be flying through the sun’s atmosphere, getting closer to the sun’s surface than any other spacecraft in history.

Parker Space Probe
[Photo Credit: NASA]

“Parker Solar Probe will revolutionize our understanding of the Sun’s corona. Facing brutal heat and radiation, the spacecraft will fly close enough to watch the solar wind speed up from subsonic to supersonic, and fly through the birthplace of the highest-energy solar particles,” NASA reported.

NASA used ULA’s Delta IV Heavy rocket to launch the space probe out of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida this weekend, marking the companies 37th launch of the Delta IV rocket and the 129th successful launch since the company was formed in 2006.

“The unique requirements of this mission made the Delta IV Heavy the perfect launch vehicle to deliver Parker Solar Probe into orbit with the highest precision,” Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of Government and Commercial Programs said in a press release. “Congratulations to our team and mission partners, we are proud to launch this exceptional spacecraft that will provide invaluable scientific information benefiting all of humankind.”