Apr 10 1999
From The Space Library
U.S. Air Force officials announced that, despite initial media reports of a successful launch, the previous day's launch of the USA 142 aboard a Titan IVB rocket had failed. The USA 142, also called the DSP 19, an American geosynchronous military satellite, had launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The failed launch had placed the Defense Support Program satellite in a useless orbit after an attached rocket engine failed. This was the first launch attempt since the explosion of a Titan IVA in August 1998. Engineers had designed the Titan IVB, an improved version of the Titan IV, to survive the electrical malfunction that had led to its predecessor's demise. Because of a policy of secrecy concerning military spy satellites, the U.S. Air Force had delayed informing its public affairs office about the launch failure. Although senior Air Force officials knew of the loss of the satellite, they were unable to make the event public until they were certain that the failure had not entailed the release of classified information. The Air Force had designed the satellite, a highly sensitive, 2-ton (1,800-kilogram or 1.8-tonne), infrared telescope, to detect missile launches and nuclear detonations.
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