Pegasus air launch from B-52 and flight

This 10-second movie clip shows the Pegasus® launch vehicle being released from the NASA Dryden NB-52B carrier aircraft, ignition of its solid rocket motor, and then the beginning of the long climb to orbit.

A group of industry entrepreneurs approached Dryden in the late 1980's about using the Center B-52 to help them test a new and potentially more cost-effective way of launching small payloads into orbit. Under the sponsorship of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA, now the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), the Orbital Sciences Corporation had developed an air-launched rocket-booster system named Pegasus in which the launch aircraft would replace the first stage of what would otherwise have been a four-stage launch system. The launch aircraft would release a winged booster rocket at an altitude of close to 40,000 feet. It was a three-stage, solid-propellant rocket. The final rocket stage carried the 1,500-pound payload into orbit. Orbital Sciences teamed with the Hercules Corporation for manufacture of the rocket motors and Scaled Composites for the booster system wing. But the vehicle still needed a suitable launch aircraft and, with its custom launch pylon, the Dryden B-52 was a logical choice.

Dryden research pilots carried the first Pegasus aloft under the B-52 wing in April 1990. The launch was successful, and it marked one of the first times a commercial company had successfully launched a payload into Earth orbit. Five additional launches between 1990 and 1994 were also successful, opening a door not only to potentially less expensive but also to nongovernmental access to space. Later, commercial launches of the Pegasus used an Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft to launch the Pegasus.

   Last Modified: December 9, 2001
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