Hercules launched more than just a satellite Thursday afternoon when its Pegasus missile dropped from the wing of a B-52 bomber and blasted off - it launched private enterprise into space.
When the delta-wing, 50-foot missile fired, it was the first time a privately developed space launch vehicle had carried a payload into orbit, said David L. Nicponski, manager of government affairs for Hercules' Bacchus Works in Magna."Today's Pegasus launch is an important milestone for America's space program and a significant contribution to this country's space industry," Ruth L. Novak, vice president and general manager of the Hercules Bacchus Works in Magna, said shortly afterward.
The missile was launched at 1:19 p.m. MDT Thursday. It was carried aloft by a B-52 owned by NASA. The plane flew out of the Dryden Flight Research Facility at Edwards, Calif., and headed over the Pacific Ocean.
Almost an hour after takeoff, 60 miles out from land, cruising at an altitude of 43,000 feet, the bomber dropped the missile. Five seconds later, the first stage motor ignited on Pegasus.
"Following the ignition of the second and third stages, the Pegasus payload reached a nominal altitude of 320 nautical miles," said a NASA spokesman. It went into orbit and a small, experimental communications satellite to be used by the Navy was deployed.
An instrument package in the Pegasus "successfully transmitted valuable data during the launch sequence, which will be studied over the coming months," said NASA. The satellite payload, called PEGSAT, is expected to release a barium cloud in a NASA experiment planned for sometime in the last two weeks in April.
This is the first all-new unmanned missile to be developed in the United States in 20 years. Hercules Aerospace built the missile body, propulsion system and components for the fins, while Orbital Science Corp. of Fairfax, Va., was responsible for engineering, vehicle integration and program management.
The flight was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Proj-ects Agency.
Pegasus launched its payload on its first attempt to fly. Previously, the missile had undergone three static firings but was never shot into the atmosphere.
Like the old Bell X-15 experimental rocket plane, Pegasus is fired from beneath the wing of an aircraft. It then delivers small payloads into low Earth orbit. "It's designed to capture a market that's available for small payloads," Nicponski said.
The missile is expected to launch small satellites more quickly, more easily and less expensively than existing launch vehicles. The system is considered far more flexible than ground-launched systems in use until now.
Its advantages include the ability to launch into either an orbit around the poles or around the equator, using the same launch platform. It can be launched from many locations, and can overcome some adverse conditions that might prevent launching small satellites.
For example, a local storm might prevent use of a particular launch pad, but the bomber could fly beyond the storm and launch Pegasus.
The new vehicle can be used "at a fraction of the cost of the ground-launched systems being used today," Nicponski said.
Pegasus is part of the Bacchus Works' diversification from strictly military programs. The company considers that a stabilizing factor helping to keep jobs for the employment force of 4,600, which has an annual payroll of $150 million.
In ancient Greek mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse. Hercules gave that name to the new missile because it has wings, and the company hopes it will become "the winged workhorse" of space vehicles.