Aug 29 1978
From The Space Library
Wallops Flight Center announced that an attempt to recover in midair an experiment launched on a single-stage meteorological rocket had been successful. The experiment (to obtain vertical profiles of nitric oxide concentrations in the middle and upper atmosphere between 50 and 30km up) would later provide in situ measurements for use by Nimbus-G satellites from launch sites in the northern hemisphere. The payload launched Aug. 29 on a Super Arcas rocket at 3:38pm EDT had reached an altitude of 66km (216 000ft); the 8.7kg payload ejected at apogee deployed the parachute immediately as programmed. Radars at WFC had vectored the fixed-wing Sky Van aircraft to an intercept position to snare the package in midair about 4km (13 000ft) up and about 13km (7 nautical mi) offshore from Wallops Island. (WFC Release 78-13).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
