page_title: AS-103
section_title: Launch
hierarchical_section_title: AS-103 / Launch
caption_attribution_description: The SA-9 (Saturn I Block II), the eighth Saturn I flight, lifted off on February 16, 1965. This was the first Saturn with an operational payload, the Pegasus I meteoroid detection satellite. SA-9 successfully deployed the Pegasus I, NASA's largest unmarned instrumented satellite, into near Earth orbit.
context_page_description: AS-103 was the third orbital flight test of a boilerplate Apollo spacecraft, and the first flight of a Pegasus micrometeroid detection satellite. Also known as SA-9, it was the third operational launch of a two-stage Saturn I launch vehicle.
context_section_description: The launch vehicle consisted of an S-I first stage, an S-IV second stage, and an instrument unit. The spacecraft consisted of a boilerplate command and service module, a launch escape system, and a service module/launch vehicle adapter (BP-16). The Pegasus 1 satellite was enclosed within the service module, attached to the S-IV stage. The orbital configuration consisted of the satellite mounted on the adapter, which remained attached to the instrument unit and the expended S-IV stage.
  The vehicle was launched from Cape Kennedy Launch Complex 37B at 09:37:03 a.m. EST (14:37:03 GMT) on February 16, 1965. A hold of 1 hour and 7 minutes was caused by a power failure in the Eastern Test Range flight safety computer. A built-in hold of 30 minutes was also used to discharge and recharge a battery in the Pegasus satellite as a check that it was functioning properly.
  The launch was normal, and the spacecraft was inserted into orbit approximately 10.5 minutes after launch. The launch escape system was jettisoned during launch and the command module was jettisoned after orbital insertion. The Pegasus satellite weighed approximately 3980 pounds (1805 kg) and was 208 by 84 by 95 inches (5.28 by 2.13 by 2.41 m). The width of the deployed wings was 96 feet (29.3 m). The total mass placed in orbit was 33,895 pounds (15,375 kg).  The perigee was 307.8 miles (495 km), the apogee was 461.9 miles (743 km), and the orbital inclination was 31.76°.
caption: AS-103 (SA-9) launch
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