Tag: Pegasus XL
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Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rocket selected for responsive launch demo
A Pegasus rocket underneath its L-1011 carrier jet takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, before a 2013 launch. Credit: NASA The U.S. Space Force is planning for an airborne launch of a solid-fueled Pegasus rocket over the Pacific Ocean by early summer after quietly awarding Northrop Grumman a contract for the mission last…
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Rockets purchased by Stratolaunch back under Northrop Grumman control
File photo of a Pegasus XL rocket inside the Building 1555 processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin Hardware for two air-dropped Pegasus XL launchers previously purchased by Stratolaunch, a space launch company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, are now back under Northrop Grumman control and for sale to…
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World’s largest airplane completes first flight
Stratolaunch’s rocket carrier jet, the largest in the world, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port shortly after 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT; 1400 GMT) Saturday. Credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News Built for hauling rockets aloft to launch satellites, the world’s biggest airplane landed Saturday after a widely-anticipated test flight over California’s…
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Photos: Stratolaunch’s giant airplane flies over Mojave
Stratolaunch’s rocket carrier jet, the largest aircraft in the world by wing span, took off Saturday morning from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California for its first test flight. The twin-fuselage airplane took off at 6:58 a.m. PDT (9:58 a.m. EDT; 1358 GMT) Saturday and flew for nearly two-and-a-half hours, reaching a top…
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Launch of NASA ionospheric probe delayed to examine rocket issue
The second and third stages of the Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket are offloaded from a transport vehicle at Building 1555 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California for the launch of NASA’s ICON satellite. Credit: NASA/Rodney Speed The launch of a NASA satellite to study the behavior of plasma in Earth’s ionosphere has been…
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Orbital ATK has no plans to phase out seldom-used Pegasus rocket
In this view from an F/A-18 chase plane, Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket fires its first stage seconds after dropping from the belly of an L-1011 carrier plane Dec. 15. Credit: NASA/Lori Losey The build-up of Orbital ATK’s next air-launched Pegasus XL rocket will start in the coming weeks at Vandenberg Air Force Base in…
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Flock of ‘microsats’ launched to measure winds inside hurricanes
Updated at 4:15 p.m. EST (2115 GMT) with acquisition of all eight satellites. A Pegasus XL rocket fires into space after dropping from the belly of Orbital ATK’s L-1011 carrier jet. Credit: NASA TV/Spaceflight Now A winged Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket dropped from the belly of a carrier jet off the east coast of…
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Video: CYGNSS launched by Pegasus rocket
The Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket is released from L-1011 carrier jet off the central Florida coastline at 8:37 a.m. EST (1337 GMT) and ignites to power eight microsats to space for NASA’s CYGNSS hurricane research project.
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Hydraulic pump glitch scrubs Pegasus launch
Updated at 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT). A camera on-board the L-1011 carrier plane shows the aft end of the Pegasus XL rocket in flight over the Atlantic Ocean Monday. Credit: NASA TV Trouble with a hydraulic pump needed to release Orbital ATK’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket from its carrier jet Monday has delayed the…
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Pegasus XL launch timeline with NASA’s CYGNSS microsats
Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket will take about eight minutes to reach orbit with NASA’s eight CYGNSS weather research microsatellites, then comes deployment of the spacecraft more than 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth. The 51,000-pound (23-metric ton) rocket will drop from the belly of a modified L-1011 carrier plane, named Stargazer, flying on an…