Pegasus ICON Takeoff for Launch - Scrub Attempt

The Northrop Grumman L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, with the Pegasus XL rocket attached beneath, starts down the runway at the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Nov. 7, 2018. NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) is secured inside the rocket's payload fairing. The Pegasus XL rocket will be carried aloft by the Stargazer. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.

The Northrop Grumman L-1011 Stargazer aircraft, with the Pegasus XL rocket attached beneath, starts down the runway at the Skid Strip at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Nov. 7, 2018. NASA's Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) is secured inside the rocket's payload fairing. The Pegasus XL rocket will be carried aloft by the Stargazer. ICON will study the frontier of space - the dynamic zone high in Earth's atmosphere where terrestrial weather from below meets space weather above. The explorer will help determine the physics of Earth's space environment and pave the way for mitigating its effects on our technology, communications systems and society.

Photographer NASA/Frank Michaux
ICONIonospheric Connection ExplorerNASALSPLaunch Services ProgramKSCKennedy Space CenterGSFCGoddard Space Flight CenterNorthrop GrummanPegasus XLLEOStar-2UC BerkeleyVAFBVandenberg Air Force BaseMIHGTIMichelson Interferometer for Global High resolution imaging of tNRLU S Naval Research LaboratoryEUVExtreme Ultraviolet spectrometerICPInstrument Control PackageIVMIon Velocity MeterUT DallasUniversity of Texas at DallasFUVFar Ultraviolet spectrometerSkid StripCape Canaveral Air Force StationCCAFS