NATION : Delta 2 Puts ‘Navstar’ Into Orbit
An Air Force Delta 2 rocket knifed through a blue sky today and successfully boosted into orbit a $65-million “Navstar” satellite, the fifth in a globe-spanning network of military navigation beacons.
Running 24 hours behind schedule, the $30-million Delta 2, equipped with nine strap-on boosters for extra power, thundered to life at 1:10 p.m., 16 minutes late because of concern about high winds aloft, and quickly vaulted away from Launch Pad 17 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Housed inside a protective nose cone at the top of the 126-foot rocket was the fifth of 21 new Global Positioning System--GPS--navigation satellites designed to tell military units their locations to within 53 feet anywhere in the world.
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