ANTONOV Airlines delivers European critical satellite to the launch site in Titusville, FL

ANTONOV Airlines in cooperation with Ceva Logistics delivered the 40-tonnes cargo including the container with satellite and additional equipment from Cologne-Bonn, Germany to Titusville, FL.

The container was loaded onto the plane using the back ramp and on-board cranes, which made it possible not to use additional ground equipment. At the same time the rest of the cargo was loaded into the plane via the front ramp. The technical characteristics of the aircraft allow it to complete the onloading and offloading in time-effective frame.

The special spacecraft “Hera”, developed by the European Space Agency for its space safety program, was safely delivered to the NASA shuttle launch and landing facility. Earlier this month the spacecraft was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle and will study the results of the DART impactor, four years after impact.

“Hera” has a mass of 1,128 kgs (2,487 lbs) and carries a payload of cameras, an altimeter, and a spectrometer. It is carrying two small CubeSat spacecraft, called Milani and Juventas.

Hera is intended to fully characterize the composition and physical properties of the binary asteroid system including, for the first time, the sub-surface and internal structures. It will also perform technological demonstrations linked to operations in the vicinity of a small Solar System body and the deployment of and communication with CubeSats in interplanetary space.

We are excited to provide exclusive transport services for space global safety mission. We always do our best to ensure the highest level of transportation performance.

“Regarding your service. Your crew performed very well! They were prepared and knew what to do. High class work! Really appreciated. Especially the cooperation/communication with Eugene Kiva, the Flight Manager, was very good”, commented Alexander Rosenthal, Aerospace Special Projects Coordinator - Ceva Logistics.

“That was an outstanding and extraordinary experience. The satellite, being a highly sensitive cargo, must have been carried with extreme caution. Our team must have kept the relevant levels of temperatures, G-forces and other conditions during the flight for smooth delivery. We also had to control the appropriate satellite parameters on the ground in every airport on the route, constantly.

Both the flight crew and technical team cooperation concluded into a successful mission. We are proud to be a part of this project, that may be one of the significant steps of discovering the Universe and its secrets and getting life-saving knowledge for future generations”, said Eugene Kiva, Flight Manager, ANTONOV Airlines.