NASA Blows Up High Speed Rocket

By Andrew Bridges
AP Science Writer
Saturday, June 2, 2001; 5:15 p.m. EDT

LOS ANGELES –– NASA aborted an attempt to set a new speed
record for an aircraft Saturday, blowing up a rocket that was to help
launch the unmanned X-43A jet.

The jet had been scheduled to make its maiden flight over the Pacific
Ocean. A B-52 was to carry it and a Pegasus rocket over the ocean,
where the rocket would have ignited and boosted the experimental plane
to approximately 100,000 feet before releasing it.

But the booster rocket was ordered destroyed seconds after being
released from the belly of the B-52.

"The Pegasus went out of control, it appeared parts were breaking off of
it," said Alan Brown, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration
spokesman.

The experimental jet was presumed destroyed in the explosion, which
occurred at about 45,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean.

Once launched, the X-43A was designed to then fire its specialized engine
– called a scramjet – and fly under its own power for 10 seconds,
covering about 17 miles. It will then coast to an impact in the water.

NASA had hoped the plane would reach speeds approaching Mach 7
during its fleeting flight, besting the Mach 6.7 record set by the
rocket-powered X-15 in 1967.