Pegasus was specifically developed to provide cost-effective access to space for the small satellite community. The Pegasus air-launch system is the industry’s workhorse, providing launch services fortechnology demonstration, scientific investigation, remote sensing and communications missions. The three-stage Pegasus boosts small satellites weighing up to 1,000 pounds (450 kilograms) into low-Earth orbit. Pegasus is carried aloft by an L-1011 carrier aircraft to approximately 40,000 feet (12,000meters) over open ocean, where it is released and then free-falls in a horizontal position for five secondsbefore igniting its first stage rocket motor. In a typical mission Pegasus delivers its payload into orbit in a little over ten minutes.