Project Pilot | NOTS 5
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
Air launch to Suborbital flight
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US Navy
The Navy was competed with the Army to put the first American satellite into orbit. Their first two Vanguard missions failed, with the second being a highly publicized failure, as it exploded on the launchpad. They went on to put 3 satellites into orbit but did not beat the Army to be the first. Their work in space continues today largely on military satellites.
NOTS 5
The project pilot payloads were small cylindrical satellites. These missions intended to be the first to launch a satellite from an aircraft. They had only a single instrument, a very primitive infrared line scanning device to make IR images of the ground.
Project Pilot
Height 4.40 Meters
Max Stages 5
Mass To GTO 0 kg
Liftoff Thrust 125 kN
Diameter 0.76 Meters
Mass To LEO 1 kg
Liftoff Mass 0 Tonnes
Launch Success 0
Consecutive Success 0
Maiden Flight 1958-07-04
Launch Failures 6
