In 1997 and 1998 the

Dryden Flight Research Center The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical rese ...

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

, California, supported and hosted a Kelly Space & Technology, Inc. (KST) project Eclipse, which sought to demonstrate the feasibility of a reusable tow-launch vehicle concept. The objectives were: demonstration of towed takeoff, climb-out, and separation of the EXD-01 from the towing aircraft; validation of simulation models of the towed aircraft systems; and development of ground and flight procedures for towing and launching a delta-winged airplane configuration safely behind a transport-type aircraft. The

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Eclipse Project was designed to examine the feasibility of towing a

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications unti ...

aircraft having high wing loading, validate the tow simulation model, and demonstrate various operational procedures, such as ground processing, in-flight maneuvers, and emergency abort scenarios. Further project goals were to successfully tow, in-flight, 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. The project was conducted in 1997-1998, with

F-106 Delta Dart The Convair F-106 Delta Dart is an all-weather interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the American aircraft manufacturer Convair. The F-106 was designed in response to the 1954 interceptor program. Envisioned as an imagined "Ultimate In ...

airframes modified to QF-106 drones, towed behind C-141A

cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft generally feature one or more large door ...

. The

Air Force Flight Test Center The Air Force Test Center (AFTC) is a development and test organization of the United States Air Force. It conducts research, development, test, and evaluation of aerospace systems from concept to deployment. It has test flown every aircraft in ...

(AFFTC) supplied the C-141A transport aircraft and crew and configuring the aircraft as required for the tests. The first test of the series took place on December 20, 1997, when NASA research pilot

Mark Stucky Mark P. "Forger" Stucky (born 9 November 1958) is an American test pilot and commercial astronaut. In these roles, he was an employee of Virgin Galactic, a private spaceflight company which is developing sub-orbital space tourism flights. On ...

flew a QF-106 on the first towed flight. Stucky flew six successful tow tests between December 1997 and February 6, 1998. On February 6, 1998 the Eclipse project accomplished its sixth and final towed flight, bringing the project to a successful completion.

References

{{Reflist NASA vehicles