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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (5218)	1/29/1999 8:46:00 AM
From: jopawa	Respond to of 10852

Reuters take on the delay: Thursday January 28, 7:56 pm Eastern Time Loral says computer glitch delays satellite launch NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Satellite company Loral Space & Communications (NYSE:LOR - news) on Thursday said it will further delay the launch of its Telstar 6 satellite, originally set for Oct. 15, 1998, for up to 30 days due to a computer problem with the launch vehicle. The broadcast video and data communications satellite is set to be launched from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan by Loral's Skynet division, a television broadcaster. The company said the launch delay will not prevent Skynet from continuing to meet commitments to existing customers. The Telstar 6 was delayed from its original launch date due to potential problems associated with components supplied by AEG of Germany (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: AEGG.F), and the company had to return the satellite to a facility in Palo Alto, Calif. This time, Loral said, the Proton launch device manufactured by Russia's Krunichev Space Center had a computer problem that requires removing the rocket from its launch pad. ''Naturally, we are disappointed with this unfortunate technical problem on the Proton rocket,'' Terry Hart, president of Loral Skynet, said in a statement. ''We are confident, however, that our satellite will be fully operational by the end of the first quarter of 1999.'' The problems underscore the difficulties companies have in getting satellites up and running. Globalstar Telecommunications Ltd. (Nasdaq:GSTRF - news), for example, lost 12 satellites worth $180 million in a launch failure in September when a converted former Soviet ballistic missile malfunctioned while carrying the satellites. Once launched, Telstar 6 will be one of the most powerful communications satellites available to broadcasters and program distributors in North America, Loral said, covering the continental United States, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Canada and Latin America.