Pegasus 3
Pegasus 3 or III, also known as Pegasus C before launch, was an American satellite which was launched in 1965 to study micrometeoroid impacts in Low Earth orbit. It was the last of three Pegasus satellites to be launched, the previous two having been launched earlier the same year. It was manufactured by Fairchild Hiller, and operated by NASA.
Spacecraft
Pegasus 3 was a Pegasus spacecraft, consisting of of instruments, attached to the S-IV upper stage of the carrier rocket which had placed it into orbit. It had a total mass of, and was equipped with two sets of micrometeoroid detection panels, and a radio for tracking and returning data. The panels were long, and equipped with 116 individual detectors.Launch
Pegasus 3 was launched atop a Saturn I rocket, serial number SA-10, flying from Launch Complex 37B at the Cape Kennedy Air Force Station. The launch occurred at 13:00:00 UTC on 30 July 1965. Following launch, Pegasus 3 was given the COSPAR designation 1965-060A, whilst NORAD assigned it the Satellite Catalog Number 01467.Pegasus 3 was a secondary payload on the carrier rocket, which was carrying a boilerplate Apollo spacecraft, Apollo 105 or BP-9A, as part of a series of configuration tests for the Apollo program. The Apollo boilerplate acted as a payload fairing for the Pegasus spacecraft, which was stored inside what would have been the Service Module of a functional spacecraft. Upon reaching orbit, the boilerplate Command and Service modules were jettisoned.