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The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

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emain attached <strong>to</strong> STEX. However, this experiment<br />

failed on January 16, 1989, when, with only 21 m <strong>of</strong><br />

tether deployed, the tether was so far <strong>of</strong>f vertical that<br />

au<strong>to</strong>matic safety systems jettisoned the base <strong>to</strong> protect<br />

the remainder <strong>of</strong> the STEX satellite.<br />

Launch<br />

Date: Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 3, 1988<br />

Vehicle: Taurus<br />

Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base<br />

Orbit: 744 × 759 km × 85.0°<br />

strap-on booster 421<br />

strap-on booster<br />

A rocket mo<strong>to</strong>r that is mounted <strong>to</strong> the first stage <strong>of</strong> a<br />

launch vehicle <strong>to</strong> provide extra thrust at lift-<strong>of</strong>f and during<br />

the first few minutes <strong>of</strong> ascent. Most strap-ons, as in<br />

the case <strong>of</strong> the Space Shuttle, Titan, Delta, Atlas, and<br />

Ariane, are solid-propellant mo<strong>to</strong>rs. Some Russian<br />

launch vehicles have used liquid-propellant engines.<br />

Typically, strap-on boosters burn out while the first stage<br />

is still firing, separate, and fall back <strong>to</strong> Earth. For this reason,<br />

they are sometimes referred <strong>to</strong> as a half stage or zero<br />

stage.<br />

strap-on booster An Ariane 4<br />

with strap-on boosters launching<br />

the Inmarsat 3 communications<br />

satellite. Lockheed Martin

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