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Where does Earth's atmosphere end and space begin?

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In a mysterious region of space scientists
call the ionosphere - a volatile place where

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terrestrial weather from below meets space
weather from above.

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It’s also where our astronauts and critical
space assets orbit.

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Without a proper understanding of this dynamic
region in space, the technology and communication

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we rely so heavily upon could be at risk.

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That’s why NASA is launching the Ionospheric
Connection Explorer, or ICON – to give us

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answers.

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"The primary goal of the mission is to gain
an understanding between the weather here

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in our atmosphere, and the ionosphere in space.

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We don't quite have a handle on what's going
on up there in the ionosphere, so this will

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give us an opportunity to understand that."

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The ICON spacecraft only weighs 364 pounds
so NASA’s Launch Services Program chose

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Northrop Grumman's air-launched Pegasus launch
system to deliver it into a 360-mile-high

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orbit.

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"We selected the Pegasus XL launch vehicle.

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It provided an excellent combination of mission
performance and flexibility for the mission

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design for a spacecraft of the mass of ICON."

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"What's unique about the Pegasus rocket is
that it is an air-launched vehicle, and that

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allows us to launch from anywhere in the world."

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The challenge with processing Pegasus is that
it’s a flying solid rocket motor - solid

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fuel ready to burn as soon as it’s ignited.

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(Launch countdown nats)

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It requires special attention - an explosion-proof

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processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force
Base in California – where the spacecraft

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must be mated to the rocket and sealed inside
its protective fairing.

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It's one of the few launch systems in the
world where the payload is attached to the

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launch vehicle before it's encapsulated.

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Once complete, Pegasus is free to launch from
anywhere in the world.

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"Once we've established that we're ready,
we then transport our entire launch team and

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hardware to another part of the world so that
we can insert ourselves into the proper trajectory."

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But to get there, Pegasus still needs to be
strapped to the belly of the L-1011 Stargazer.

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Strapping 55,000 pounds of solid rocket fuel
to the bottom of an airplane is tricky, but

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these rocket scientists and engineers are
up to the task.