AV-015 Blowdown

Monday night people from Florida to Canada got an interesting view as our Centaur upper stage completed it's first orbit after a launch two hours prior. After the Centaur separates from the payload, extra fuel is jettisoned at the end of the mission. We empty all of the hydrogen and oxygen so that the Centaur does not turn into a space bomb if it is struck by a meteor. The space explosion itself wouldn't be so bad, but it would make thousands of little pieces of space debris that could interfere with operational satellites.