''Stargazer'' is a

Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 ...

built in 1974, that was modified in 1994 for use by

Orbital Sciences Orbital Sciences Corporation (commonly referred to as Orbital) was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture, and launch of small- and medium- class space and launch vehicle systems for commercial, military and other governmen ...

(now part of

Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American multinational Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and Arms industry, defense company. With 97,000 employees and an annual revenue in excess of $40 billion, it is one of the world's largest Arms industry ...

) as a

mother ship A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bomber aircraft, bombers converted to carry exp ...

for the

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

, a

small-lift launch vehicle A small-lift launch vehicle is a rocket orbital launch vehicle that is capable of lifting or less (by NASA classification) or under (by Roscosmos classification) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). The next larger category is medium-lift l ...

. , 45 rockets (containing nearly 100 satellites) have been launched from ''Stargazer''. ''Stargazer'' is the only L-1011 airframe still airworthy.

History

The first Pegasus launch to use Stargazer was conducted on June 27, 1994, as the maiden flight of the Pegasus-XL. Previous launches used the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

-operated

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

B-52 The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Ai ...

nicknamed "

Balls 8 ''Balls 8'' is a NASA Boeing NB-52B mothership which was retired in 2004 after almost 50 years of flying service with NASA. The aircraft is famous for dropping the X-15 aerospace research vehicle on 106 of the 199 X-15 program flights. I ...

," which was also used for four subsequent launches, as the original Pegasus could not be launched from Stargazer due to clearance issues. A modified version, the Pegasus-H, was introduced to rectify this. Stargazer was also used for captive tests and transportation of the X-34 hypersonic research aircraft; however, the

drop test A drop test is a method of testing the in-flight characteristics of prototype or experimental aircraft, experimental aircraft and spacecraft by raising the test vehicle to a specific altitude and then releasing it. Test flights involving powered ...

s used Balls 8. Lockheed TriStar launches Pegasus with Space Technology 5

Pegasus launches using Stargazer are usually conducted from

Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...

. Launches have also been conducted from the

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

, NASA's

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

, NASA's

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk, VA, Norfolk. The facility is operated ...

and from launch sites outside the US:

Kwajalein Atoll Kwajalein Atoll (; Marshallese language, Marshallese: ) is part of the Marshall Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI). The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island, which its majority English-speaking re ...

in the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

and Gando Airport in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

also offer the aircraft for research flights. It is capable of carrying a payload to an altitude of . In 2010, Stargazer was reengined with -thrust Rolls-Royce RB211-524B4 turbofans to replace its original -thrust RB211-22Bs. In 2015, Stargazer was repainted to reflect Orbital Sciences' merger with

Alliant Techsystems Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, arms manufacturer headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The company operated across 22 states, Puerto Rico, and internationally. ATK reven ...

. into

Orbital ATK Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in February 9, 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Orbital ATK designed, built, and de ...

On December 15, 2016, Stargazer successfully launched CYGNSS on behalf of NASA on its second attempt. The first attempt on December 12 was scrubbed due to issues with the hydraulic system responsible for separating the Pegasus rocket from the launch aircraft. Stargazer appeared in

livery in 2018 following the acquisition of Orbital ATK. Stargazer launched the

Ionospheric Connection Explorer Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) was a NASA satellite designed to investigate changes in the ionosphere of Earth, the dynamic region high in the atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather from above. ICON studied ...

on October 11, 2019.

Background

The

carrier aircraft first flew in February 1974, and was delivered to

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

as C-FTNJ the following month. In May 1992 Orbital Sciences acquired the plane and had

Marshall Aerospace Marshall Group (registered as Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) Ltd,) is a British company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Subsidiaries include Marshall Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and design company located a ...

in the UK implement accommodations for the Pegasus system. It was renamed for use as carrier aircraft for the Pegasus launch system. The company also considered other aircraft including the Boeing B-52G Stratofortress,

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

, and

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971 ...

, taking into account altitude and speed performance, range, modification complexity, and acquisition and operational costs.

References

{{reflist United States special-purpose aircraft Lockheed aircraft Individual aircraft Rocket launch sites Orbital Sciences Corporation Aircraft related to spaceflight

History

Background

See also

References