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West Virginiaâs first spacecraft, Simulation to Flight-1 (or STF-1), launched into orbit on Dec. 16, 2018, on the first-ever NASA Venture Class Launch Services mission via the Rocket Lab Electron rocket.
The launch occurred from New Zealandâs Mahia Peninsula and STF-1 was one of 10 smallsats deployed as part of NASAâs Educational Launch of Nanosatellites mission. First contact was achieved a few days later.
âI donât think words can express the amount of happiness and sense of accomplishment that came across the team during the first successful communications,â NASA computer engineer Justin Morris said as he reflected to the early days of the mission.