File:Eclipse project QF-106 and C-141A takeoff on first tethered flight December 20, 1997 (4858565186).jpg

File
File history
File usage on Commons
Metadata

Size of this preview: 722 × 600 pixels. Other resolutions: 289 × 240 pixels | 578 × 480 pixels | 924 × 768 pixels | 1,232 × 1,024 pixels | 3,000 × 2,493 pixels.

Original file ‎(3,000 × 2,493 pixels, file size: 3 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

English

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Captions

Description	Description: TOW ROPE TAKEOFF - The Kelly Space & Technology (KST)/USAF Eclipse project's modified QF-106 and a USAF C-141A takeoff for the project's first tethered flight on December 20, 1997. The successful 18-minute-long flight reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, hosted the project, providing engineering and facility support as well as the project pilot. In 1997 and 1998, the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, supported and hosted a Kelly Space & Technology, Inc. project called Eclipse, which sought to demonstrate the feasibility of a reusable tow-launch vehicle concept. The project goal was to successfully tow, inflight, a modified QF-106 delta-wing aircraft with an Air Force C-141A transport aircraft. This would demonstrate the possibility of towing and launching an actual launch vehicle from behind a tow plane. Dryden was the responsible test organization and had flight safety responsibility for the Eclipse project. Dryden provided engineering, instrumentation, simulation, modification, maintenance, range support, and research pilots for the test program. The Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Edwards, California, supplied the C-141A transport aircraft and crew and configured the aircraft as needed for the tests. The AFFTC also provided the concept and detail design and analysis as well as hardware for the tow system and QF-106 modifications. Dryden performed the modifications to convert the QF-106 drone into the piloted EXD-01 (Eclipse eXperimental Demonstrator-01) experimental aircraft. Kelly Space & Technology hoped to use the results gleaned from the tow test in developing a series of low-cost, reusable launch vehicles. These tests demonstrated the validity of towing a delta-wing aircraft having high wing loading, validated the tow simulation model, and demonstrated various operational procedures, such as ground processing of in-flight maneuvers and emergency abort scenarios.
Date	20 December 1997
Source	http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/Eclipse/HTML/EC97-44357-8.html (image link)
Author	NASA/Tom Tschida

This image or video was catalogued by Armstrong Flight Research Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: EC97-44357-8.

This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing.

Licensing[edit]

	This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
	Warnings: Use of NASA logos, insignia and emblems is restricted per U.S. law 14 CFR 1221. The NASA website hosts a large number of images from the Soviet/Russian space agency, and other non-American space agencies. These are not necessarily in the public domain. Materials based on Hubble Space Telescope data may be copyrighted if they are not explicitly produced by the STScI.[1] See also {{PD-Hubble}} and {{Cc-Hubble}}. The SOHO (ESA & NASA) joint project implies that all materials created by its probe are copyrighted and require permission for commercial non-educational use. [2] Images featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) web site may be copyrighted. [3] The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) site has been known to host copyrighted content. Its photo gallery FAQ states that all of the images in the photo gallery are in the public domain "Unless otherwise noted."

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Thumbnail	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	03:04, 21 February 2015		3,000 × 2,493 (3 MB)	Huntster (talk \| contribs)	Full resolution.
	09:47, 15 February 2015		1,536 × 1,276 (265 KB)	Ethically Yours (talk \| contribs)	Transferred from Flickr via Flickr2Commons

You cannot overwrite this file.

File usage on Commons

The following 2 pages use this file:

Metadata

This file contains additional information such as Exif metadata which may have been added by the digital camera, scanner, or software program used to create or digitize it. If the file has been modified from its original state, some details such as the timestamp may not fully reflect those of the original file. The timestamp is only as accurate as the clock in the camera, and it may be completely wrong.

JPEG file comment

NASA Dryden Flight Research Center Photo Collection

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/index.html NASA Photo: EC97-44357-8 Date: December 20, 1997 Photo by: Tom Tschida

Eclipse project QF-106 and C-141A takeoff on first tethered flight December 20, 1997

TOW ROPE TAKEOFF - The Kelly Space & Technology (KST)/USAF Eclipse project’s modified QF-106 and a USAF C-141A takeoff for the project’s first tethered flight on December 20, 1997. The successful 18-minute-long flight reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, hosted the project, providing engineering and facility support as well as the project pilot.

In 1997 and 1998, the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, supported and hosted a Kelly Space & Technology, Inc. project called Eclipse, which sought to demonstrate the feasibility of a reusable tow-launch vehicle concept. The project goal was to successfully tow, inflight, a modified QF-106 delta-wing aircraft with an Air Force C-141A transport aircraft. This would demonstrate the possibility of towing and launching an actual launch vehicle from behind a tow plane. <p> Dryden was the responsible test organization and had flight safety responsibility for the Eclipse project. Dryden provided engineering, instrumentation, simulation, modification, maintenance, range support, and research pilots for the test program. <p> The Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC), Edwards, California, supplied the C-141A transport aircraft and crew and configured the aircraft as needed for the tests. The AFFTC also provided the concept and detail design and analysis as well as hardware for the tow system and QF-106 modifications. Dryden performed the modifications to convert the QF-106 drone into the piloted EXD-01 (Eclipse eXperimental Demonstrator–01) experimental aircraft. Kelly Space & Technology hoped to use the results gleaned from the tow test in developing a series of low-cost, reusable launch vehicles. These tests demonstrated the validity of towing a delta-wing aircraft having high wing loading, validated the tow simulation model, and demonstrated various operational procedures, such as ground processing of in-flight maneuvers and emergency abort scenarios.

Structured data

File:Eclipse project QF-106 and C-141A takeoff on first tethered flight December 20, 1997 (4858565186).jpg

Captions

Captions

Licensing[edit]

File history

File usage on Commons

Metadata

Structured data

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

inception

20 December 1997

Navigation menu

Search