China is going to launch some birds, IF the weather improves and
they don't blow up...................................
infoseek.com
Bad weather delays China launch of satellite
08:35 p.m Aug 17, 1997 Eastern
BEIJING, Aug 18 (Reuter) - Unsuitable weather conditions have delayed for a second time China's launch of a Philippine telecommunications satellite from its launch pad in southwestern China, the Xinhua news agency said on Monday.
The satellite had been due to be sent into orbit early on Monday but unsuitable weather forced the delay, Xinhua said quoting officials at the Xichang launch centre in southwestern Sichuan province.
The telecommunications satellite, made by U.S.-based Space Systems/Loral Inc for the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation would be sent aloft aboard one of China's new generation Long March 3b rockets, Xinhua said.
Everything at the launch site was now ready for the launch, Xinhua quoted officials as saying.
``Once weather permitted, the satellite will be sent off immediately,'' it quoted one official as saying.
The launch had originally been scheduled for a blast-off window of August 10-12, officials said earlier.
Industry sources said last month China had delayed the launch of another communications satellite, the Apstar 2R, to September from late August because of uncertainties over post-launch control in the orbiter.
China is banking on the successful launches of the Mabuhay and Apstar 2R satellites to restore confidence in its space industry after a series of disasters since 1995.
In January 1995, a Long March 2E rocket carrying the original Apstar 2 satellite blew up shortly after lift-off, killing a family of six in a rain of fiery debris.
Then came the February 1996 loss of the first 3B and its U.S.-built Intelsat 708 satellite payload, followed in August by the failure of a Long March 3 rocket to put its Chinasat-7 orbiter into proper orbit.
Industry analysts have said that two successful domestic launches this year of a weather satellite aboard a Long March 3 and a communications orbiter on a 3A have boosted international confidence after the 1995 and 1996 disasters.
China plans four more commercial launches this year, making a total of six in 1997. ^REUTER@
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