EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE : $1.5-Million NASA Plane Breaks Up at High Altitude

A faulty gyroscope sent an unpiloted NASA research airplane into a steep dive last month that caused the $1.5-million craft to break up high above the desert base, the space agency said.

The Perseus A aircraft is designed to carry instruments into the stratosphere to measure erosion of Earth’s vital ozone layer. Perseus is expected to fly thousands of feet higher than piloted aircraft, such as converted U-2 spy planes, that now are the workhorses of stratospheric research.

NASA said the Nov. 22 breakup of one of two Perseus A aircraft it is testing will not cause cancellation of the program.

“It’s been a setback but it’s not a show-stopper,” said Don Haley, a spokesman for NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards. “It’s the type of program where you can expect incidents like this to happen with much greater frequency than with traditional aircraft because of the tender nature of these machines.”

The aircraft was struggling in hurricane-force winds nearly seven miles above Edwards when ground controllers decided to bring it home. As the craft descended, it began pitching and rolling uncontrollably.