WASHINGTON — Three experimental satellites powered by consumer smartphones will hitch a ride to space on Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares medium-lift rocket when that vehicle makes its maiden flight from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia later this year.

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Dan Leone is the NASA reporter for SpaceNews, where he also covers other civilian-run U.S. government space programs and a growing number of entrepreneurial space companies. He joined SpaceNews in 2011.Dan earned a bachelor's degree in public communications...