The Nation : Schedule of Private Space Launches Set

The first rockets built by private companies will blast into space carrying commercial payloads next year, filling a gap left by the Jan. 28, 1986, Challenger explosion, the Transportation Department said. The department released a four-year schedule of 18 commercial launches as part of the government’s new policy of encouraging corporate America to take over launching commercial payloads. McDonnell Douglas Corp., General Dynamics Corp., Martin Marietta Corp. and Conatec all have scheduled launches for 1989. The first launch will be in March for the government of India with a McDonnell-built rocket. Transportation Secretary James H. Burnley IV said the United States had left itself vulnerable in the past, relying strictly upon the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to carry commercial satellites and other payloads aboard the space shuttles.