The State - News from Aug. 28, 1986

For the 15th time in a year, the launch of a $37.3-million weather satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base was delayed. The launch, which had been scheduled for Sept. 7, was delayed again because of a potentially explosive leak of liquid oxygen fuel, an Air Force spokesman said. No new launch date has been set. The last delay also was a result of a liquid oxygen fuel leak. But then the Air Force “replaced the affected components, retested and they leaked again,” the spokesman said. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration says the launch of the NOAA-G weather satellite is “critical” because of a string of failures--including the Jan. 28 explosion of the space shuttle Challenger that killed its seven crew members. Because the weather satellite could represent NASA’s first successful launch since the Challenger disaster, much attention has been focused on the project.