B-52 bomber, dropped from the bomber, and then accelerated to Mach 7 by a booster rocket.
An interceptor missile launched over the Pacific Ocean, designed to destroy a dummy warhead, failed to separate from its booster rocket early Saturday.
CNN: US - After test fails, Russia again urges U.S. to drop missile shield proposal
Also, once it is on its own, Chandra will rely on a booster rocket that failed during a classified U.S. Air Force launch in April 1999.
Besides containing living quarters, it will carry the booster rocket needed to push the station back into place if it starts to fall out of orbit.
To be sure it reaches the necessary speeds, the X-43A will be attached to a booster rocket and ride piggy back on a B-52 to 24, 000 feet.
Last year, in its most recent test, the X-51 fell for about four seconds before its booster rocket ignited, but the aircraft failed to separate from the rocket and plunged into the ocean.
MSN: Hypersonic aircraft taken out for a trial run on B-52 bomber
Vasily Moroz from the Russian Space Research Centre said the two sides had considered using a US-built probe with a Russian booster rocket and descent module, but that the project was drawn to a halt by funding issues.
It reached Mach 4.8 in less than half a minute powered by a solid rocket booster.
One of them was determining the exact moment at which an astronaut must fire a rocket booster to enter the moon's gravity field.
In 2009 NASA shot a Centaur rocket booster into the moon, kicking up 350 tons of debris that spewed up six miles high.
Three years later during STS-27, Atlantis' heat shield sustained severe damage from a piece of insulation that broke off of the right solid rocket booster during launch.
ENGADGET: Space Shuttle Atlantis ends its run of predicting disaster for other NASA shuttles
One problem was that the rocket used as a booster (a type known as Pegasus, that is designed to be used as a satellite launcher) is usually dropped from its launch aircraft at an altitude of 12, 200 metres.
NASA's next-generation rocket, a behemoth of a booster expected to launch astronauts deeper into space than ever before, has passed a major design milestone, space agency officials announced Wednesday.
MSN: Giant deep-space rocket passes key test - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News
应用推荐