May 4 1999
From The Space Library
A Boeing Delta III rocket, carrying an Orion satellite for Loral Space and Communications, malfunctioned shortly after launch, leaving the satellite in the wrong orbit. In the inaugural launch in August 1998 of a Boeing Delta III, a rocket designed to carry twice the payload of the Delta II, the rocket had exploded in midair. In this second attempt at flight, the rocket had survived the initial launch, but malfunctioned when the second stage failed to ignite properly, leaving Orion in an orbit lower than planned. Engineers were uncertain whether it would be possible to boost the satellite using on-board fuel and thrusters.
Lockheed Martin Corporation named former Martin Marietta President and Chief Operating Officer A. Thomas Young to lead an independent review of the management, engineering, manufacturing, and quality control processes of its space and missile business, specifically Astronautics, Missiles and Space, and Michoud Space Systems. The company had experienced a "series of expensive and well-publicized failures of its rockets and satellites," including two in the previous week, when a Titan IV placed one military satellite in the wrong orbit and when another satellite, the remote-sensing Ikonos, lost contact with the ground. The company instructed the panel to submit a report to senior Lockheed management by 1 September.
The U.S. Air Force officially declared the US$1.2 billion launch of a communications satellite on 30 April a "mission failure." A malfunction in the upper stage booster of the Titan IVB rocket had stranded the Milstar satellite in the wrong orbit. The Air Force established an investigation into the failure, which was its "third costly space failure in nine months.”
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