Oct 16 1985

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center announced the launch at 6:01 a.m. DST today of a single-stage Orion sounding rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility to evaluate electrical fields and charged particles in earth's middle atmosphere.

The Orion, about 16 feet long and 14 inches in diameter, carried the 90-lb. payload to a peak altitude of 52 statute miles, after which a Wallops Skyvan aircraft recovered the payload in mid-air.

NASA launched the experiment from the Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR) in Alaska on April 12, 1985; however, snow cover hindered payload recovery. On August 26 a sheep hunting party found the payload and its parachute floating on Beaver Creek in the White Mountains, Alaska and returned it to the PFRR. Range officials on September 23 sent the payload to Wallops for refurbishment for today's launch.

NASA tentatively scheduled for July 1986 another launch of the experiment in Sweden. (GSFC Release 85-29)

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