NASA ICON mission successfully air-launched aboard the Stargazer aircraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida around 10:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Oct. 9, by Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket.
Instead of seeing a vertical rocket one of the launch pads at the Air Force Station, Pegasus rocket will not launch from the ground, but from the air.
The Stargazer will release the rocket about 100 miles off the coast of Florida where Pegasus XL will proceed to launch the ICON spacecraft.
ICON will study the frontier of space – the dynamic zone high in our atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above.
The ionosphere can be a source of great beauty, but also can be disruptive to radio communications and satellites, and astronaut health.
► Video courtesy by NASA
https://www.nasa.gov
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