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To: Neocon who wrote (7734)	5/10/1999 7:44:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17770

Bad software blamed for $1.2 billion space failure CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., May 10 (Reuters) - Corrupted computer software loaded into a Titan 4 rocket is being blamed for wrecking a $1.2 billion military space mission, the most costly in a string of six U.S. launch failures, a respected trade magazine reported Monday. A Centaur upper stage booster on the Lockheed Martin (LMT - news) Titan 4 rocket veered off course about nine minutes after blasting off from Cape Canaveral on April 30, leaving a sophisticated $800 million military communications satellite in the wrong orbit. ''The Centaur upper stage was launched carrying an inaccurate software load from Lockheed Martin that went undetected in the company's software verification process,'' the May 10 edition of Aviation Week and Space Technology reported. After starting to malfunction, the incorrectly programed booster went haywire, firing its twin engines at the wrong times and releasing its costly cargo three hours early into an orbit thousands of miles (km) too low. Workers at the Lockheed Martin, Littleton, Colorado, plant that prepared and tested the software were ''emotionally devastated'' the magazine said. Employees there were already struggling to cope with the murders of students at Columbine High School, where many of their children attended class, and the recent announcement of 900 job cuts. The Titan 4 failure was the costliest in a string of U.S. space misfortunes. In the last nine months two satellites were blown apart in midair explosions, three marooned in the wrong orbits and another vaporized in the atmosphere. Over $3.5 billion of space hardware has been lost. Lockheed Martin, which suffered three launch failures in April alone, and the U.S. Department of Defense last week announced separate inquiries into the rash of space mishaps.