Saalex Team Helps NASA Launches

The Expendable Launch Vehicle Integrated Support 3 team at Saalex Solutions Inc. in Camarillo has been busy supporting space launches. 

The ELVIS 3 team provided launch and flight support for two SpaceX missions in November and this month will assist NASA in the space agency’s launch of its Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer, a space observatory that will help scientists better understand black holes and neutron stars.

Saalex Solutions is the federal services division of Saalex Corp. that supports the Department of Defense and NASA.

For the two Space X missions, the Saalex team provided support to NASA and Space X with weather briefings, mission management team meetings and readiness reviews. The Space X Dragon Crew-2 capsule splashed down on Nov. 8, while the Crew-3 capsule was launched on Nov. 11.

The support required for the missions was more involved than typical operations, as NASA and SpaceX decided to bring the Crew-2 mission home before launching the Crew-3. This required the teams to perform an unusual switch to allow the two mission milestones to occur so close to one another, Saalex said in a release. 

Saalex Chief Executive Travis Mack said that the ELVIS 3 team showed it can support an ambitious launch schedule to maintain the nation’s leadership in space.

“As the number of commercial launch companies continues to grow, they can be confident that the ELVIS 3 team will be there to support their missions, no matter how busy the launch schedules get,” Mack said in a statement. 

The space observatory launch will be the fifth that the Saalex ELVIS 3 team has been a part of this year. The team will provide to NASA engineering, programmatic and technical support for the liftoff. 

Mack said that it was rewarding to be associated with such historic space launches. 

“This mission will give mankind a better understanding of the distant reaches of space, and therefore, a better understanding of ourselves and our future in the cosmos,” Mack said in a statement.