Pentagon: First Flight Test of New Booster Rocket for Missile Defense Successful
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A booster rocket designed for use in an eventual U.S. missile defense system was successful Friday in its first flight test, the Pentagon announced.
The prototype three-stage booster rocket was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., about 1 p.m. PDT and flew about 3,000 miles before splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, said Cheryl Irwin, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
The test did not include an attempted intercept of a missile. The first attempted intercept using the prototype booster rocket is scheduled for 2002 or 2003, Irwin said.
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The Pentagon has been using modified versions of older rockets in its intercept tests, including a successful intercept over the Pacific on July 14.
In an intercept test, the booster rocket carries a device called a kill vehicle, which detaches from the booster during the final stage of flight and steers itself into the path of the target missile.
In Friday's flight the rocket carried a mock kill vehicle to simulate the mass and weight of an actual one.