On December 15, 2016 at 13:37 UTC, a winged Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket was dropped from the belly of L-1011 “Stargazer” carrier jet off the east coast of Florida and fired into orbit with eight research satellites to fly around the tropics and return measurements of winds at the cores of hurricanes. The modified L-1011 aircraft took off from Cape Canaveral US Air Force Station in Florida about an hour before the appointed drop time. The pilots climbed to 39 000 feet (11 900 meters) and deployed the Pegasus rocket. The air drop occurred around 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the Florida coast at a position northwest of Cape Canaveral.