May 4 1979
From The Space Library
Space News for this day. (1MB PDF)
NASA launched FltSatCom-B, second in a series of five fleet satellite communications system spacecraft, from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas Centaur at 2:56 p.m. into a transfer orbit, before firing its apogee kick motor May 6 to move it toward a 23,300-mile altitude synchronous-orbit station over 23W, which it should reach in late July. This was the 50th launch by an Atlas Centaur. The TRW built 4,100-pound FltSatcom 2 was about 880 pounds heavier than any previously launched by this vehicle, requiring it to take a path offset 2.4° from the equator. Like its predecessor FltSatcom 1 launched in 1978, now on station over 100°W, FltSatcom 2 would link ships, submarines, and planes to various ground-based control centers and would provide service to White House communications centers. The Air Force reported that about 420 surface ships and 90 submarines contained equipment for communicating by satellite, and the number was growing. (NASA Release 79-49; NASA MOR M-491-202-79-02 [prelaunch] May 1/79, [postlaunch] Nov 5/79; W Post, May6/79, 17; LA Times, May 5/79)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
