Pegasus

Pegasus 1/2/3

Mission Profile

Pegasus (Pegasus 1, 2, and 3) were three NASA meteoroid detection satellites launched aboard Saturn I rockets beginning 16 February 1965, designed to measure the flux and mass distribution of micrometeorites in Earth orbit as part of Apollo mission risk assessment. Each Pegasus satellite deployed enormous wing-like panels totaling 29 square meters of detector area, making them among the largest spacecraft ever deployed in low Earth orbit at the time. The three satellites collectively recorded thousands of meteoroid punctures through their detector membranes, establishing that the micrometeorite flux in cislunar space was far lower than some pre-Apollo pessimistic estimates — a critical finding that contributed to confidence that Apollo spacecraft could safely traverse the lunar distance.