Air-launched rocket drop zone known to have been used for 28 launches from 1990 to 2007, reaching up to 4539 kilometers altitude.

1990 April 5 - 19:10 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus 001/F1 Pegsat Mass: 178 kg (392 lb). Spacecraft: Pegsat. Agency: NASA GSF. Perigee: 401 km (249 mi). Apogee: 507 km (315 mi). Inclination: 94.10 deg. Period: 93.70 min. Chemical release experiment. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B).

1991 July 17 - 17:33 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus/HAPS 002/F2 Microsat 1 Mass: 22 kg (48 lb). Spacecraft: Microsat. Agency: DARPA. Perigee: 356 km (221 mi). Apogee: 454 km (282 mi). Inclination: 82.00 deg. Period: 92.70 min. Test of LEO network for global communications.

1993 April 25 - 13:56 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus 004/F4 Alexis Mass: 115 kg (253 lb). Spacecraft: Alexis. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 741 km (460 mi). Apogee: 746 km (463 mi). Inclination: 69.80 deg. Period: 99.70 min. Test of X-ray imaging sensors; solar array deployment malfunction. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B).

1994 May 19 - 17:03 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus/HAPS 005/F5 STEP 2 (SIDEX) Mass: 180 kg (390 lb). Spacecraft: Eagle. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 597 km (370 mi). Apogee: 813 km (505 mi). Inclination: 82.00 deg. Period: 98.90 min. Did not achieve planned orbit, though still useful. Space craft engaged in investigation of spaceflight techniques and technology (US Cat A).

1994 June 27 - 21:15 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F6 FAILURE: Destroyed on launch. STEP 1 Spacecraft: Eagle. Agency: OSC. Apogee: 38 km (23 mi). Destroyed on launch

1994 August 3 - 14:38 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus F7 P90-6 APEX Mass: 260 kg (570 lb). Spacecraft: APEX. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 360 km (220 mi). Apogee: 2,534 km (1,574 mi). Inclination: 69.98 deg. Period: 114.82 min. Advanced Photovoltaic and Electronic Experiments; studied radiation and plasma effects on solar power systems.

1995 April 3 - 13:48 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus H F8 Orbcomm F1 Mass: 40 kg (88 lb). Spacecraft: Microstar. Agency: Orbcomm. Perigee: 728 km (452 mi). Apogee: 747 km (464 mi). Inclination: 69.98 deg. Period: 99.56 min. Commercial communications testbed. Plane F. Ascending node 199.1 degrees.

1995 June 22 - 19:58 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F9 FAILURE: Second stage failure; destroyed by range safety. STEP 3 Mass: 267 kg (588 lb). Spacecraft: STEP. Agency: USAF. Apogee: 144 km (89 mi). Space Test Experiment Platform.

1996 March 9 - 01:53 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F10 REX-II Spacecraft: REX. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 799 km (496 mi). Apogee: 835 km (518 mi). Inclination: 90.00 deg. Period: 101.20 min. LEO

1996 May 17 - 02:44 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus H F11 MSTI-3 Spacecraft: MSTI. Agency: BMDO. Perigee: 420 km (260 mi). Apogee: 432 km (268 mi). Inclination: 97.10 deg. Period: 90.70 min. LEO. Sensor technology tests

1996 July 2 - 07:48 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F12 TOMS-EP Mass: 248 kg (546 lb). Spacecraft: TOMS-EP. Agency: NASA-GSF. Perigee: 705 km (438 mi). Apogee: 746 km (463 mi). Inclination: 98.30 deg. Period: 99.30 min. LEO. Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer-Earth Probe; atmospheric ozone mapping.

1996 August 21 - 09:47 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F13 FAST Spacecraft: FAST. Agency: NASA-GSF. Perigee: 353 km (219 mi). Apogee: 4,163 km (2,586 mi). Inclination: 83.00 deg. Period: 132.70 min. Second Small Explorer mission.

1997 August 1 - 20:20 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F16 Orbview-2 Spacecraft: Orbview-2. Agency: Orbimage. Perigee: 707 km (439 mi). Apogee: 708 km (439 mi). Inclination: 98.20 deg. Period: 98.90 min.

1997 August 29 - 15:02 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL 019/F17 FORTE Spacecraft: FORTE. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 799 km (496 mi). Apogee: 833 km (517 mi). Inclination: 70.00 deg. Period: 101.20 min. FORTE - 'Fast On-orbit Recording of Transient Events' - was a US Los Alamos National Laboratory satellite designed to study natural and artificial radio emissions from the ionosphere. This data was needed to develop technology for monitoring nuclear test ban treaties.

1998 February 26 - 07:07 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F20 SNOE Spacecraft: SNOE. Agency: NASA GSF. Perigee: 529 km (328 mi). Apogee: 581 km (361 mi). Inclination: 97.70 deg. Period: 95.80 min. SNOE, the Student Nitric Oxide Explorer. Small satellite built by the University of Colorado to measure the Nitric Oxide density as a function of altitude. First satellite in the STEDI (Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative) program.

1998 April 2 - 02:42 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F21 TRACE Spacecraft: TRACE. Agency: NASA GSF. Perigee: 602 km (374 mi). Apogee: 652 km (405 mi). Inclination: 97.80 deg. Period: 97.10 min. NASA's third Small Explorer, the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE), was successfully launched by an Orbital Pegasus XL. The L-1011 carrier aircraft took off from Vandenberg and dropped the Pegasus over the Pacific Ocean. TRACE, a project led by Lockheed's solar physics group, carried a 30-cm extreme ultraviolet imaging telescope which will study the Sun. The telescope mirrors were made by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. TRACE had an 8.5 arcmin field of view and 1 arcsecond resolution.

1998 December 6 - 00:57 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F25 SWAS Spacecraft: SWAS. Agency: NASA GSF. Perigee: 637 km (395 mi). Apogee: 651 km (404 mi). Inclination: 69.90 deg. On December 3 the Orbital Sciences L-1011 Stargazer took off from Vandenberg AFB Runway 30/12 carrying a Pegasus XL launch vehicle with the SWAS satellite aboard. It reached the drop box at 36.0N 123.0W over the Pacific, but due to a software-related problem the range ordered the launch scrubbed and the L-1011 returned to base. After a further delay due to weather, the L-1011 took off at 23:58 GMT on December 5 and SWAS reached orbit and separated from the third stage at 01:09 GMT. SWAS, the Sub-millimetre Wave Astronomy Satellite, had a 0.6m telescope with a 490 to 550 GHz sub-millimetre receiver and an acousto-optical spectrometer. SWAS was used to study the cooling of molecular cloud cores, the sites of star formation in our galaxy, by measuring lines from molecular oxygen and water.

1999 March 5 - 02:56 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F26/M-22 WIRE Spacecraft: WIRE. Agency: NASA GSF. Perigee: 537 km (333 mi). Apogee: 582 km (361 mi). Inclination: 97.50 deg. NASA's long-delayed WIRE (Wide Field Infrared Explorer) astronomy satellite was the fifth Small Explorer (SMEX) mission managed by NASA-Goddard. The L-1011 Stargazer launch aircraft took off from Vandenberg's runway 30/12 at 01:55 GMT on March 2 for the first launch attempt. The planned 02:56 GMT launch was cancelled at T-46 seconds due to a problem with the tail fin release mechanism of the Pegasus XL launch vehicle. The second attempt was successful, with the Pegaus XL being dropped at 36 degrees N x 123 degrees W over the Pacific Ocean at 02:56 GMT. However the WIRE ran into serious trouble shortly after orbit injection. The cover of the solid hydrogen telescope ejected prematurely, and the cryogenic coolant evaporated and vented, spinning the satellite out of control. WIRE was going to make an infrared photometry survey, generating a large catalog of galaxies and quasars.

1999 May 18 - 05:09 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL/HAPS F27 TERRIERS Spacecraft: TERRIERS. Agency: NASA GSF. Perigee: 537 km (333 mi). Apogee: 552 km (342 mi). Inclination: 97.80 deg. TERRIERS was part of NASA's Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative (STEDI), which was a precursor program to the UNEX (University Explorer) series. STEDI was managed by USRA (the Universities Space Research Association) for NASA, while UNEX was to be more directly managed by NASA-GSFC. TERRIERS was to be operated by the space physics group at Boston University for ionosphere studies, and carried TESS, a set of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrographs to get electron density and thermosphere emission profiles. The GISSMO instrument measured the solar EUV flux. The spacecraft was built by AeroAstro and based on HETE. TERRIERS was placed in the correct orbit, but it failed to orient its solar panel to the Sun and ran out of battery power by May 20. Controllers were optimistic that when its orbit processes to a better sun angle the satellite could be revived. Additional Details: TERRIERS(12506).

2000 June 7 - 13:19 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F29 TSX 5 Mass: 247 kg (544 lb). Spacecraft: STEP. Agency: USAF STP. Perigee: 412 km (256 mi). Apogee: 1,695 km (1,053 mi). Inclination: 68.94 deg. Period: 106.19 min. Military Technology satellite. Launch delayed from May 20 and June 6. Fifth STEP (Space Test Experiments Program) satellite. The satellite's main section was the STRV-2 experiment module, sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and the UK Ministry of Defense. This was to take infrared images of UK military aircraft at perigee, and then downlink data via laser. STRV-2 also carried vibration isolation and debris impact sensors. A secondary payload was the S97-1 CEASE (Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor). This was an AFRL prototype sensor package to provide warning of spacecraft charging and radiation events.

2001 June 2 - 20:43 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Hyper X 1 FAILURE: Failure. X-43A test Agency: OSC. Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). Hypersonic scramjet vehicle test. The X-43A/Pegasus booster combination was air-launched at 7600 m altitude. However the booster disintegrated at Max-Q. The redesign of the launch profile and modifications to the booster would take NASA almost three years.

2003 June 26 - 18:55 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F34 Orbview 3 Mass: 304 kg (670 lb). Spacecraft: Orbview. Perigee: 452 km (280 mi). Apogee: 455 km (282 mi). Inclination: 97.30 deg. Period: 93.70 min. One-meter-resolution commercial imaging satellite. Orbview-3 used an Orbital Leostar bus and had a launch mass of 304 kg (including ca. 50 kg of hydrazine for orbit raising and the 66 kg science instrument). Launch had been delayed from September 2002, April 30, May 9 and 23

2003 August 13 - 02:09 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F35 Scisat 1 Mass: 260 kg (570 lb). Spacecraft: SCISAT. Agency: Canadian Space Agency. Perigee: 642 km (398 mi). Apogee: 654 km (406 mi). Inclination: 73.90 deg. Period: 97.70 min. Canadian Space Agency spacecraft which carried the ACE-FTS spectrometer to study the chemistry of the upper troposphere and stratosphere and the MAESTRO instrument to study ozone and aerosol levels in the atmosphere. Originally to have launched June 25, 2002. Delayed five more times.

2004 March 27 - 21:59 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Hyper X 2 X-43A-2 (Hyper X) Agency: OSC. Apogee: 29 km (18 mi). The second X-43 launch incorporated modifications to the first flight vehicle, including an upgraded control system, redesigned autopilot, off-loaded rocket motor, and improved analytical models. The second flight was launched at 12,200 m instead of the 7600 m altitude of the failed first launch to reduce transonic aerodynamic loads and improve structural and control system margins. An offloaded Orion 50S solid rocket motor reduced maximum dynamic pressure during the flight.

2004 November 16 - 22:35 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Hyper X 3 X-43A test Agency: OSC. Apogee: 33 km (20 mi). Delayed from September, November 9 and 15. Final test of NASA's X-43A-3 Hyper X hypersonic scramjet demonstrated air-frame integrated scramjet performance at speeds approaching Mach 10. Changes to the launch vehicle compared to Flight 2 included high-temperature thermal protection system tiles on the wing and fin leading edge, elimination of all ballast, a full propellant load on the ATK Orion 50S booster, lightweight aluminum structures, and updated control laws and aerodynamics.

2005 April 15 - 17:26 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL/HAPS F36 DART Mass: 360 kg (790 lb). Spacecraft: DART. Agency: NASA. Perigee: 395 km (245 mi). Apogee: 747 km (464 mi). Inclination: 96.60 deg. Period: 96.10 min. Delayed from April 15; October 18, 19, 26, 28; Nov. 4, 9 and 11; 2004, and March 2, 2005. Autonomous Rendezvous Technology mission, planned to guide itself to within a few metres of a US satellite. On April 16, DART closed within 100 m of the MUBLCOM satellite, then evidently began a series of out-of-control maneuvers resulting in an in-space collission and MUBLCOM being bumped into a 3 to 5 km higher orbit. Remarkably both satellites continued to function. DART then detected that it was running unexpectedly low on nitrogen cold gas used for orientation. Its autonomous software aborted further rendezvous operations and the DART was deorbited shortly thereafter.

2006 March 22 - 14:03 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Pegasus. Pegasus XL F37 ST5-A Mass: 22 kg (48 lb). Agency: NASA/GSFC. Perigee: 302 km (187 mi). Apogee: 4,539 km (2,820 mi). Inclination: 105.60 deg. Period: 136.90 min. Space Technology 5 was one of NASA's New Millenium Program projects. It consisted of three small spacecraft, each a half meter in each dimension, with a small extensible magnetometer boom. Study of the magnetosphere was however secondary to the Nanosat Constellation Trailblazer technology mission. This was to demonstrate fully functional nanosatellites, which included a cold gas microthruster and miniaturized telemetry/command and power systems. The Pegasus rocket was dropped from the L-1011 carrier aircraft over the Pacific at 123 deg W x 36 deg N.