Dale Nash, executive director of Virginia Space and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (center) and Alta Devices, Twiggs Space Lab and Near Space Launch colleagues hold three interlinked ThinSats. Credit: Alta Devices

When Orbital ATK’s Antares rocket blasts off from Wallops Island, Virginia, this fall on its way to the International Space Station, the rocket’s second stage will carry an unusual payload: one cubesat and 63 ThinSats, miniature satellites shaped like a slice of bread.

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Debra Werner is a correspondent for SpaceNews based in San Francisco. Debra earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University. She is a recipient...