mrb1@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (maurice.r.baker) (04/06/90)
Hi --- Not exactly "sci.space.shuttle" to be precise, but I thought I would post here anyhow [don't usually read "sci.space"] since the subject gets mentioned in Henry's AWST synopses. Just got done watching the Pegasus airborne launch on TV (it was a satellite feed, likely NASA Select). It was a few minutes late (about 3:10 or 3:15 PM) Thursday afternoon, but a gorgeous sight nonetheless. Beautiful pictures from a nearby aircraft of the carrier plane and missile against a blue sky. Then the drop, and a few seconds later ignition....away it went. We listened to the audio for quite a while through stagings until it was about 300 nm up and going about 20,000 fps. Most of the audio after "launch", however, was between the ground and support aircraft --- re: clearances to fly back and land, etc. Every once in a while, a different voice would come on and advise how the spaceborne vehicle was doing. Definitely neat to watch....and all the people in the control room they showed on TV seemed pleased about it, too. M. Baker