If you would like to see more articles like this please support our coverage of the space program by becoming a Spaceflight Now Member. If everyone who enjoys our website helps fund it, we can expand and improve our coverage further. A Pegasus rocket underneath its L-1011 carrier jet takes off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, before a 2013 launch. Credit: NASA The U.S. Space Force is planning for an airborne launch of a solid-fueled Pegasus rocket over the Pacific Ocean by early summer after quietly awarding Northrop Grumman a contract for the mission last year. The Pegasus rocket is an air-launched vehicle designed to drop from the belly of Northrop Grumman’s L-1011 carrier jet, then fire three solid-fueled rocket stages to place small satellites into orbit.