To: defendall who wrote (5881 ) 4/26/1999 12:15:00 PM From: SafetyAgentMan Respond to
BOEING HUNTS FOR ANSWERS TO EMBARRASSING DELTA 3 FIZZLE
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer; 04/24/99)
Boeing's Delta 3 launch team continued yesterday to troubleshoot the
embarrassing failure of the company's new rocket to take off from Cape
Canaveral Thursday night when the countdown reached zero.
A computer software glitch apparently caused the latest, and certainly the
most dramatic, postponement. It was the fourth time this month that Boeing
tried and failed to launch Delta 3.
"We'll find the problem and be back again another day," Jay Witzling, a
Boeing vice president in charge of the Delta 3 program, told the Florida Today
newspaper from Cape Canaveral.
A new launch date has not been set.
The $235 million mission will place a **Loral** Orion communications
satellite into orbit to serve the Asia-Pacific region.
Boeing said a software command to ignite the rocket's main engine never
reached the vehicle and the engine did not fire.
A different software problem caused the first Delta 3 to explode 70 seconds
after launch in last August from Cape Canaveral on its maiden flight. That
problem has been fixed, according to Boeing, but the mission has been delayed
by weather, problems with the rocket and malfunctioning ground equipment.
Thursday night's trouble-plagued countdown was halted several times during
the 69-minute launch window while Boeing engineers scrambled to fix minor
problems with rocket systems. Twice the countdown came within three minutes of
launch and was halted. Both times, the countdown was reset to T-minus four
minutes. Finally, it appeared the launch would take place at 7:05 p.m. Seattle
time, shortly before the window was to close. But when the countdown reached
zero, nothing happened.
Computer software controls the final 22 seconds of the countdown. The liquid-
fueled main engine on the Delta 3 is supposed to ignite at T-minus five
seconds when a computer command is sent by a Boeing engineer. Two smaller
engines ignite three seconds later. When the countdown reaches zero, six strap-
on solid rocket boosters fire.
Once the solids fire, the launch cannot be stopped and Delta 3 is supposed
to thunder away with more than a million pounds of thrust.
But the software command to fire the main engine, which would have triggered
the final launch sequence, never reached the rocket, Boeing said.
It's not clear when a fifth launch attempt can be made, once Boeing has
fixed the latest software problem. That new launch date has to be established
by the Air Force, which operates the Eastern range for all rocket launches from
Cape Canaveral. It takes 48 hours to reconfigure range equipment between
launches, and an Air Force Titan rocket is scheduled to blast off from Cape
Canaveral Friday. That means if Delta 3 cannot be launched by Wednesday, the
next available launch opportunity would be Sunday May 2.
P-I reporter James Wallace can be reached at jameswallace@seattle- pi.com or
206-448-8040.
(Copyright 1999)
