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Project Pilot
Launched 1958-07-25 00:00 UTCNaval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Air launch to Suborbital flight
No cause has been given yet.
Launch failure
Target: Low Earth Orbit
Project Pilot lifted off with NOTS 1, but the launch failed.
Next
Waiting on the Cause
No cause has been given yet. What US Navy finds will be added here, and to the updates below.
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.
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.
Launches
18
Successful
3
17%
Upcoming
0
scheduled
Height
4.4m
Diameter
0.8m
To low Earth orbit
1kg
Liftoff thrust
125kN
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Follow US Navy to hear when findings come out and when Project Pilot flies next.
