May 15 1987
From The Space Library
The Soviet Union launched a giant new rocket booster more powerful than the American Space Shuttle. According to the Soviet Tass News Agency, the first two stages of the rocket, launched from the Baikonur test site in Central Asia, fired correctly but a mock satellite failed to enter orbit and landed in the Pacific Ocean. Tass described the untended Energia launch vehicle as a "two-stage multipurpose launch vehicle" capable of putting into orbit more than 100 tons of payload, which is 75 tons more than what the U.S. Space Shuttle could carry. (LA Times, May 17/87; C Trib, May 18/87; W Times, May 18/87)
In an effort to reduce reliance on the U.S. Space Shuttle, NASA would rely more heavily on untended rockets, declared Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator. He said that the primary goal was to "accelerate the deployment of the Nation's backlog of space-science missions." NASA hoped to launch as many as five satellites and space probes by untended rockets by 1992. (WSJ, May 18/87)
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