Boeing set to try rocket launch again(9:14 p.m. EDT (0114 GMT) on Monday.)
By Steven Young
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., April 5 (Reuters) - Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) said on Monday it has fixed a problem that caused its new Delta 3 rocket to explode last August and is set to launch another of the commercial boosters into space.
The powerful Delta 3, on a $230 million satellite delivery mission, was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida at 9:14 p.m. EDT (0114 GMT) on Monday.
A successful mission would boost Boeing's effort to capture a larger portion of the lucrative satellite-launch market, currently dominated by the French-led European Ariane launcher.
''We all believe that we have done everything possible to assure what happened in August will not occur again,'' said Rich Murphy, Boeing's mission director. ''We have checked and double checked and triple checked everything we can.''
The first flight of the Delta 3, an upgraded version of the company's Delta 2 rocket, ended in disaster on Aug. 28, 1998, when the launcher exploded just over a minute into flight.
Engineers blamed the problem on a control system that overreacted to normal vibrations during the liftoff. A change in the system's operating rules should solve the problem, Boeing officials said.
Another launch mishap would have a severe impact on the Delta program, Boeing officials admit. The company has 17 launch contracts for the Delta 3 rocket.
Monday's launch is set to loft into orbit the Orion 3 telecommunications satellite, built by Hughes Space and Communications Co. for Loral Space and Communications Ltd. (NYSE:LOR - news)
Orion 3 is scheduled to provide television, Internet and other communications links for the Asia-Pacific region, covering an area from India to Hawaii.
Another big rocket was scheduled to return to flight this week. The U.S. Air Force plans to launch a Titan 4 rocket on Friday, the first mission for the booster since a $1 billion in-flight explosion last August.
[hope it all goes well, too.....] |
