PROSPECTOR FACT SHEET
By Cliff Lethbridge
Prospector On Launcher, Photo Courtesy NASA
Classification: Research Rocket
Length: 46 feet
Date of First Cape Canaveral Launch: June 18, 1991
Date of Final Cape Canaveral Launch: June 18, 1991
Number of Cape Canaveral Launches: 1
Prospector was a short-lived rocket program of Orbital Sciences Corporation. It was launched just once from Cape Canaveral, carrying the NASA Joust-1 science payload. The mission was intended to be high-altitude and suborbital. The mission was unsuccessful, with the rocket being destroyed by the Range Safety Officer after veering off course very early into its flight.