Sep 9 1982
From The Space Library
Space Services Inc. (SSI) of America launched the first U.S. privately funded rocket from a small concrete launch pad at a cattle ranch on Matagorda Island, 45 miles northeast of Corpus Christi on the south coast of Texas, at ll:15 a.m. Washington time. Conestoga I rose to 196 miles altitude, traveling 326 miles downrange before dropping into the Gulf of Mexico. The solid-fuel rocket, with a motor purchased from NASA for $365,000, was not designed for recovery. The booster successfully. separated from the upper stage of the rocket; a shroud covering a mock payload that weighed 1,097 pounds, including 40 gallons of water, ejected at peak altitude as a visual marker.
After years of planning and one explosive failure in 1981, SSI's launch would offer relatively inexpensive space transportation for firms wanting to put up private satellites without government help. SSI chairman David Hannah, a Houston real-estate man, said that the launch of Conestoga I was a "giant step forward" for his two-year-old company; the plan was to send up an orbital test flight within two years and start operating on a commercial basis shortly thereafter.
Former astronaut Deke Slayton, who joined SSI after retirement from NASA and was in charge of the launch team, said that everything worked perfectly. Besides buying the booster from NASA, SSI also had help from subcontractors with considerable government experience and a variety of ex-NASA personnel. It was negotiating for a permanent launch site in Hawaii but was also looking into a lease of the Atlas Centaur launch site in Florida for the sort of launches that could send heavier spacecraft, such as communications satellites, into orbit.
As SSI officials toasted the successful launch with champagne, former director of KSC Lee Scherer, now an SSI consultant, remarked "You can't do this at a government launch site." He said that a high-level administration statement that SSI was "in the national interest" would put the firm in competition for space business. (W Post, Sept 10/82, A-l; NY Times, Sept 10/82, A-1)
FBIS reported that the People's Republic of China successfully launched "another scientific experiment satellite." This was the People's Republic's 12th satellite (the first was launched in 1970) and was timed for the opening of the national congress of the PRC Communist Party. Later reports said that the satellite had "landed with precision at the predetermined recovery site" on September 14 at 2:00 p.m. Beijing time. (FBIS, Xinhua in English/Dom Svc in Chinese, Sept 9/82, Sept 14/82; Pravda in Russian, Sept 10/82; Tass Intl Svc in Russian, Sept 14/82)
September 9-20: Europe's first commercial space mission apparently failed when Ariane rocket L5 vanished 14 minutes after its launch from French Guiana September 9 at 11:12 p.m. local time. It was carrying European satellites Marecs-B and Sirio-2, a maritime telecommunications satellite and a weather satellite, both lost with the rocket in the Atlantic north of Ascension Island when the motor stopped 30 seconds early. This was the second failure in five Ariane launch attempts; the two previous attempts succeeded, although they carried no commercial payloads. A success would have put the Arianes into competition for contracts to launch commercial satellites.
ESA began investigating the failure. First reports said that the problem was in third-stage turbopump parts in the casing or the lubrication system. The first and second stages operated correctly, as did the separations and jettison of the fairing. The third stage ignited and ran for 275 seconds when rotation speed dropped, reaching zero at 325 seconds. The drop in thrust and engine cut-out led to a downward trajectory. (W Post, Sept 10/82, A-1; ESA Info 27, 29, 30)
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