Pegasus Launches TSX-5 Successfully

Pegasus Launches TSX-5 Successfully


by Dee Ann Divis


06/07/00 05:55:37 PM U.S. EDT

A Pegasus rocket successfully launched the Tri-Service Experiments Mission 5 (TSX-5) satellite into orbit today. The satellite carries two experiments, the Space Technology Research Vehicle-2 (STRV-2) and the Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor (CEASE). STRV-2 will provide data on space-based imaging technology, satellite vibration suppression and material science while CEASE will scan the environment near the spacecraft. An L-1011 aircraft carried the air-launched Pegasus from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. to a point approximately 80 miles off the coast. At that point the Pegasus was released and then, after a planned five-second free fall, ignited its first-stage rocket motor to boost the satellite into orbit. Both the Pegasus and the TSX-5 satellite were built by Orbital for the Air Force.


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