Feb 8 1988
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(New page: A NASA Delta 181 launch vehicle carrying a major Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) experimental payload was launched at 5:07 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral At Force Station, Florida. Th...)
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A NASA Delta 181 launch vehicle carrying a major Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) experimental payload was launched at 5:07 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral At Force Station, Florida. The 6,000 pound payload, the heaviest ever carried by a Delta rocket, consisted of a main orbiting sensor platform and fifteen subsatellites released from the main spacecraft during the first 4 hours of the 12-hour experiment. The goal of the $250 million exercise was to test the ability of an orbiting sensor platform to detect and crack the various components of Soviet Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) in flight. Four of the subsatellites were small solid-fuel rockets whose exhaust plumes simulated the exhaust from the upper stages of Soviet ICBMs, where-as other test objects simulated real and "dummy" Soviet warhead reentry vehicles. During the mission, the main satellite and subsatellites were monitored by over 100 radar tracking stations, which simulated the ground-based component of an antimissile defense system. In addition, the exercise also included the detection, by sensors on the satellite, of a 40-foot sounding rock-et launched from Kauai, Hawaii. The experiment was declared a success despite the failure of an infrared sensor. The Delta launch, originally scheduled for February 4, was delayed five days because of an apparent valve malfunction on the Delta. Data gathered by the satellite during the 12-hour exercise would be transmitted to Earth over a.10-day period. (SSR 1988 008A-D; UPI, Feb 9/88; NY Times, Feb 9/88; W Post, Feb 9/88; W Times, Feb 9/88; USA Today, Feb 9/88)
NASA announced that Andrew J. Stofan, Associate Administrator for the Space Station, would retire from the Agency on April 1. Stofan's career with NASA spanned nearly 30 years. He had directed the Space Station program since June 1986. During his tenure, the program underwent a major cost review which culminated in an Administration-approved plan to develop the Space Station in two phases. Stofan also oversaw the establishment of the Space Station program office in Reston, Virginia.(NASA Release 88-16)
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