KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A Pegasus XL Expendable Launch Vehicle is seen moments after being detached from the underside of an Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft and lowered onto a transporter. The aircraft, with the launch vehicle nestled beneath, arrived at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip on Dec. 17. Next, the vehicle will be towed to the Multi-Purpose Payload Facility (MPPF) where it will undergo testing, verification, and three flight simulations prior to its scheduled launch in late January 2003. It will carry NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) spacecraft into orbit. Built by Orbital Sciences Space Systems Group, SORCE will study and measure solar irradiance as a source of energy in the Earth's atmosphere with instruments built by the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). KSC-02pd2014
Summary
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A Pegasus XL Expendable Launch Vehicle is seen moments after being detached from the underside of an Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft and lowered onto a transporter. The aircraft, with the launch vehicle nestled beneath, arrived at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Skid Strip on Dec. 17. Next, the vehicle will be towed to the Multi-Purpose Payload Facility (MPPF) where it will undergo testing, verification, and three flight simulations prior to its scheduled launch in late January 2003. It will carry NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) spacecraft into orbit. Built by Orbital Sciences Space Systems Group, SORCE will study and measure solar irradiance as a source of energy in the Earth's atmosphere with instruments built by the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).
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