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Pegasus
Pegasus (Pegsat) under NB-52 [NASA]
Pegasus-H under L-1011 [OSC]
Pegasus-XL (CYGNSS) under L-1011 [OSC]
HXLV with Hyper-X 1 under NB-52 [OSC]
Orbital's (later Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS)) Pegasus is the first successful air-launched orbital launch vehicle. Pegasus was designed as a replacement for the Scout launch vehicle for small payloads. It is a three stage solid fuel rocket with optional liquid fouth stage (HAPS) for improved performance.
The original version was launched by NASA's Boeing NB-52 aircraft, while the later versions used OSC's Lockheed L-1011 aircraft. The Pegasus-H (aka Hybrid Pegasus) is the standard Pegasus modified for L-1011 launch with the aft fins angled down to allow the L-1011's main gear retracting. The Performance of the Pegasus was further improved by stretching the first and second stages to create the Pegasus-XL. A single stage derivative called HXLV launched NASA's Hyper-X scramjet demonstrator.
A ground launched wingless derivative with Castor-120 as first stage is called Taurus. The second and third stages form also the upper stages for the Minotaur. A wingless version called OBV has been developed as a silo-based launcher for the GBI missile defense
In October 2016, Orbital ATK announced a partnership with Stratolaunch Systems to launch Pegasus-XL rockets from the giant Stratolaunch 'Roc' carrier plane, which could launch up to three Pegasus-XL rockets on a single sortie. Stratolaunch ended operations at the end of May 2019 and Pegasus launchers planned to fly with their Roc carrier plane will be repurposed for the standard L-1011 carrier plane.
→ complete list of all Pegasus based rockets
| Version | Aircraft | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pegasus | B-52 | Orion-50S | Orion-50 | Orion-38 | - |
| Pegasus HAPS | B-52 | Orion-50S | Orion-50 | Orion-38 | HAPS / 3 × MR-107K |
| Pegasus-H | L-1011 | Orion-50S | Orion-50 | Orion-38 | - |
| Pegasus-XL | L-1011 | Orion-50SXL | Orion-50XL | Orion-38 | - |
| Pegasus-XL HAPS | L-1011 | Orion-50SXL | Orion-50XL | Orion-38 | HAPS / 3 × MR-107K |
| HXLV | B-52 | Orion-50S | - | - | - |
| Performance (kg) | LEO | LPEO | SSO | GTO | GEO | MolO | IP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pegasus | 400 | - | - | - | - | ||
| Pegasus HAPS | 425 | - | - | - | - | ||
| Pegasus-H | 400 | - | - | - | - | ||
| Pegasus-XL | 475 | 365 | 125 | - | - | - | |
| Pegasus-XL HAPS | 500 | - | - | - | - | ||
| HXLV | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
No.TypNo Type Date LS Aircrft Payload
1 1 Pegasus 05.04.1990 Ed RW04/22 NB-52B SECS (USA 55) / Pegsat 2 1 Pegasus HAPS 17.07.1991 P Ed RW04/22 NB-52B Microsat 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 (SCS 1 - 7) 3 2 Pegasus 09.02.1993 CC RW15/33 NB-52B SCD 1 / Orbcomm-CDS 1 (OXP) 4 3 Pegasus 25.04.1993 Ed RW04/22 NB-52B ALEXIS (P89-1B) / Orbcomm-CDS 2 (VSUME) 5 2 Pegasus HAPS 19.05.1994 P Ed RW04/22 NB-52B STEP 2 (P91-2, SIDEX) 6 1 Pegasus-XL 28.06.1994 F Va RW30/12 L-1011 STEP 1 (P90-1) 7 4 Pegasus 03.08.1994 Ed RW04/22 NB-52B APEX (P90-1) 8 1 Pegasus-H 03.04.1995 Va RW30/12 L-1011 OrbView 1 (MicroLab) / Orbcomm FM01 / Orbcomm FM02 9 2 Pegasus-XL 22.06.1995 F Va RW30/12 L-1011 STEP 3 (P92-2) 10 3 Pegasus-XL 09.03.1996 Va RW30/12 L-1011 REX 2 (P94-2) 11 2 Pegasus-H 17.05.1996 Va RW30/12 L-1011 MSTI 3 12 4 Pegasus-XL 02.07.1996 Va RW30/12 L-1011 TOMS-EP 13 5 Pegasus-XL 21.08.1996 Va RW30/12 L-1011 FAST (SMEX 2) 14 6 Pegasus-XL 04.11.1996 P WI RW04/22? L-1011 SAC-B / HETE 1 15 7 Pegasus-XL 21.04.1997 Ga RW03/21 L-1011 Minisat 01 / Celestis 01 16 8 Pegasus-XL 01.08.1997 Va RW30/12 L-1011 OrbView 2 (SeaStar) 17 9 Pegasus-XL 29.08.1997 Va RW30/12 L-1011 FORTE (P94-1) 18 10 Pegasus-XL 22.10.1997 WI RW04/22? L-1011 STEP 4 (P95-1) 19 1 Pegasus-XL HAPS 23.12.1997 WI RW04/22? L-1011 Orbcomm FM05 / FM06 / FM07 / FM08 / FM09 / FM10 / FM11 / FM12 20 11 Pegasus-XL 26.02.1998 Va RW30/12 L-1011 SNOE (STEDI 1) / BATSAT (Teledesic T1) 21 12 Pegasus-XL 02.04.1998 Va RW30/12 L-1011 TRACE (SMEX 4) 22 2 Pegasus-XL HAPS 02.08.1998 WI RW04/22? L-1011 Orbcomm FM13 / FM14 / FM15 / FM16 / FM17 / FM18 / FM19 / FM20 23 3 Pegasus-XL HAPS 23.09.1998 WI RW04/22? L-1011 Orbcomm FM21 / FM22 / FM23 / FM24 / FM25 / FM26 / FM27 / FM28 24 3 Pegasus-H 22.10.1998 CC RW13/31 L-1011 SCD 2 25 13 Pegasus-XL 06.12.1998 Va RW30/12 L-1011 SWAS (SMEX 3) 26 14 Pegasus-XL 05.03.1999 Va RW30/12 L-1011 WIRE (SMEX 5) 27 4 Pegasus-XL HAPS 18.05.1999 Va RW30/12 L-1011 TERRIERS (STEDI 2) / MUBLCOM 28 5 Pegasus-XL HAPS 04.12.1999 WI RW04/22? L-1011 Orbcomm FM30 / FM31 / FM32 / FM33 / FM34 / FM35 / FM36 29 15 Pegasus-XL 07.06.2000 Va RW30/12 L-1011 TSX 5 (P95-2) 30 4 Pegasus-H 09.10.2000 Kw RW06/24 L-1011 HETE 2 31 1 HXLV 02.06.2001 *F Ed RW04/22 NB-52B X-43A 1 (Hyper-X 1) 32 16 Pegasus-XL 05.02.2002 CC RW13/31 L-1011 HESSI (SMEX 6) 33 17 Pegasus-XL 25.01.2003 CC RW13/31 L-1011 SORCE 35 18 Pegasus-XL 28.04.2003 CC RW13/31 L-1011 GALEX (SMEX 7) 36 19 Pegasus-XL 26.06.2003 Va RW30/12 L-1011 OrbView 3 37 20 Pegasus-XL 13.08.2003 Va RW30/12 L-1011 SciSat 1 40 2 HXLV 27.03.2004 * Ed RW04/22 NB-52B X-43A 2 (Hyper-X 2) 41 3 HXLV 16.11.2004 * Ed RW04/22 NB-52B X-43A 3 (Hyper-X 3) 42 6 Pegasus-XL HAPS 15.04.2005 Va RW30/12 L-1011 DART 44 21 Pegasus-XL 22.03.2006 Va RW30/12 L-1011 ST 5a / ST 5b / ST 5c 46 22 Pegasus-XL 25.04.2007 Va RW30/12 L-1011 AIM (SMEX 9) 48 23 Pegasus-XL 16.04.2008 Kw RW06/24 L-1011 C/NOFS (P00-3) 50 24 Pegasus-XL 19.10.2008 Kw RW06/24 L-1011 IBEX (SMEX 10) [Star-27H] 55 25 Pegasus-XL 13.06.2012 Kw RW06/24 L-1011 NuSTAR (SMEX 11) 57 26 Pegasus-XL 28.06.2013 Va RW30/12 L-1011 IRIS (SMEX 12) 64 27 Pegasus-XL 15.12.2016 CC RW13/31 L-1011 CYGNSS A / B / C / D / E / F / G / H 70 28 Pegasus-XL 11.10.2019 CC RW13/31 L-1011 ICON (MIDEX 8) 71 29 Pegasus-XL 13.06.2021 Va RW30/12 L-1011 Odyssey (TacRL 2) planned launches Launch failures: 2: HAPS failed to generate full thrust 5: HAPS failed to generate full thrust 6: 9: 14: Satellites failed to seperate from Stage 3 31: Destroyed (t+51 sec) after vehicle veered off course (t-5 sec) Launch sites: CC = Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Eastern Test Range, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA/ RW13/31 (Skid Strip) Ed = Edwards AFB, California, USA
