wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) (12/19/89)
I just checked all the recent SPACE Digests and see no mention of "Pegasus" in the ones since #347. The following was from #344, and inspires a query (below). I've seen absolutely nothing in local media on the results of the test and would have been surprised to have seen anything, actually. Info on things like this *should* be posted to SPACE; people can't expect to get info on such things out of the general media these days. So was it a successful test? >Date: 13 Dec 89 19:45:10 GMT >From: trident.arc.nasa.gov!yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) >Subject: NASA Headline News for 12/13/89 (Forwarded) > >Preparations are underway for the second captive flight of the >Pegasus air launched space booster Thursday morning. During the >flight a NASA B-52 will carry the 50-foot long winged booster to >an altitude of 41,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean 50 miles off >the California coast. If all goes well...the first flight test >of the Pegasus will be as early as mid-January. The booster will >carry a DoD and a NASA experimental payload. Now, my query: assuming this test goes [went] OK, why is the plan to wait until another month passes before doing it for-real? I get the impression for the above and other net postings that this is a final test -- everything is set up like the real launch, except they just don't hit the "start" button. The live payload is on-board, the fuel and consumables are all loaded, etc. The only difference is that they then fly back to base with the vehicle still attached to the B-52. Am I wrong on this? [If I am, then cancel this query.] Certainly, if there are problems, they need to take whatever time is necessary to fix whatever might have been discovered in this test. But, if everything works OK, why wait a month? Why not then go up in a day or two and do it for real? What's the purpose of forcing a month's delay in any case? Regards, Will
burdick@hpindda.HP.COM (Matt Burdick) (12/20/89)
> I just checked all the recent SPACE Digests and see no mention of > "Pegasus" in the ones since #347. The following was from #344, and > inspires a query (below). I've seen absolutely nothing in local media on > the results of the test and would have been surprised to have seen > anything, actually. Info on things like this *should* be posted to SPACE; > people can't expect to get info on such things out of the general media > these days. So was it a successful test? I just read a small note about it in the paper (the San Jose Mercury News) this morning. Apparently, the second captive test had "problems" (they didn't elaborate) and the DoD is asking for a third captive test. If this happens, Pegasus probably won't be launched until Feb. some time. -matt -- Matt Burdick | Hewlett-Packard burdick%hpda@hplabs.hp.com | Information Technology (IND/IT)
mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (12/21/89)
In todays (12/20) San Jose Mercury News, a brief story mentioned that DoD is thinking about whether a third test flight will be necessary. Either way, we're talking about more delays.