UNIQUE COMMANDER PEARSON ONLY ANTI-SATELLITE ACE FLIGHT TEST CENTER BOSS GAINED DISTINCTION IN 1980S AS FIGHTER PILOT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Maj. Gen. Doug Pearson's claim to fame as a space ace is captured in a photograph on the wall of his office in the Air Force Flight Test Center.

Showing an F-15 fighter launching a missile in a nearly vertical climb, the photo was taken during a test on Sept. 13, 1985, when Pearson became the first - and, thus far, only - pilot to shoot down a satellite in space.

``He's the only anti-satellite ace we have in the whole world,'' Gen. Lester Lyles said when Pearson was installed as the Flight Test Center commander at Edwards last summer.

In 1985, Pearson, then a major, was the commander of the F-15 Anti-Satellite Combined Test Force at Edwards, an effort launched to counter the Soviet Union's growing military space efforts.

``This was back in the age where the big Soviet Bear was a threat,'' said Pearson. ``The Soviets had quite a capability to launch reconnaissance satellites to watch what was going on.''

U.S. commanders knew that, if war broke out, being able to track U.S. Navy carrier task forces by satellite would make it easier for Soviet submarines and aircraft to attack them, so the United States needed the anti-satellite missile to knock out enemy spy satellites.

``We needed a way to get a day or two to maneuver without being watched,'' Pearson said.

The 17-foot-long anti-satellite missile was a three-stage system, topped with an infrared sensor to pick up the heat given off by a satellite in the coldness of space.

A Boeing-built short-range attack missile motor got the weapon into space. The second stage was a Ling-Temco-Vought rocket motor that pointed the weapon at its intended target. The third stage was a miniature homing vehicle, or MHV.

The MHV consisted of an infrared sensor, a guidance computer, a roll- reference sensor and solid rocket motors for maneuvering and altitude control.

The MHV was designed to get in front of the satellite's path and destroy its intended target by colliding with it. The MHV weighed a mere 30 pounds, but the closing velocity of it and its intended target was estimated at more than 15,000 mph.

Air Force leaders envisioned having as many as 100 aircraft equipped with the anti-satellite missiles.

An anti-satellite missile required very precise launch conditions, Pearson said. The F-15 launching the missile had to be at 35,000 feet altitude, in a 60-degree climb and traveling a little less than the speed of sound. It also had to be in a precise spot at the right time in the satellite's orbital path.

``It had to be over the particular coordinates in those launch conditions, and it had to launch at a precise time. That was the challenge,'' Pearson said. ``There was a series of 200 miracles that had to occur.''

Flying 200 miles west of Vandenberg Air Force Base, Pearson pulled into a near-vertical climb, bleeding off speed as he reached launch altitude. At the proper altitude, the missile was fired.

The MHV hit its target, a solar observatory research satellite known as P78-1. The 1,874-pound satellite was shattered into more than 250 pieces.

``It was a real attention getter for them (the Soviets). It was the first time anyone had done that,'' Pearson said.

It would also be the last time. Congress barred the Air Force from shooting at another satellite.

The Soviet Union had worked for several years on its own anti-satellite weapons, but halted such work in 1983. Congress feared continuing the U.S. testing would prompt the Soviets to resume their testing.

Congress reasoned that the result would be a higher threat to U.S. space satellites and spacecraft, including the space shuttle.

Pearson believes the United States got some concession from the Soviets for the cancellation of the program during an arms treaty negotiation.

``I was always curious as to what we got for it,'' Pearson said.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) An F-15 fighter launches a missile to shoot down a satellite in space in 1985.

(2 -- color) PEARSON

(3) Doug Pearson, then a major, climbs into his fighter before a 1985 test in which he shot down a satellite orbiting in space.