Posted: Mon, Apr 28, 2003, 5:29 PM ET (2129 GMT)
An Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL booster successfully launched a NASA astronomy satellite Monday morning. The Pegasus XL was released from its L-1011 carrier aircraft at 8:00 am EDT (1200 GMT) off the coast from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The booster placed its payload, the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft, into a 690-kilometer orbit just over 11 minutes later. GALEX, a NASA Small Explorer mission operated by Caltech and JPL, will survey galaxies at ultraviolet wavelengths in an effort to understand how galaxies form and evolve. The launch is the second of 2003 for the Pegasus booster, after another Pegasus XL launched NASA's SORCE satellite in January. Another Pegasus launch, of the OrbView 3 commercial remote sensing satellite, is scheduled for June 1 from California, to be followed by the launch of the Canadian SciSat-1 spacecraft in July.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Florida Today article
•  AP article
•  Orbital press release
•  NASA press release