Faulty Rocket Puts Satellite in Wrong Orbit

A Navy communications satellite ended up in the wrong orbit Thursday after an unmanned Atlas rocket malfunctioned minutes after liftoff, officials said.

The launch was supposed to have been a comeback for rocket maker General Dynamics Corp., which needed a success.

The last time General Dynamics launched an Atlas was last August. That flight lasted less than eight minutes before the rocket tumbled out of control and was blown up over the Atlantic Ocean. The same thing happened in April, 1991.

Thursday’s flight appeared to get off to a good start. The 14-story Atlas lifted off slightly later than scheduled because of a computer glitch. A few minutes later, a launch commentator said controllers feared that something might have gone wrong with the booster based on “strange” computer indications.

Officials said it appeared that the first-stage booster did not provide enough thrust, and upper-stage engines burned too much fuel to get the satellite into orbit. The satellite consequently was left in an orbit that was too low.

Launch officials did not immediately say what orbit was reached.

The August failure was the second one in seven Atlas launches, and a stuck engine valve was responsible in both cases.

General Dynamics spent the past seven months investigating the failures and trying to correct them, focusing on extra engine valves and extra valve testing.

The satellite sent up Thursday was the first of nine Navy communications spacecraft to be launched over the next three years, all on unmanned Atlas rockets.

The Navy currently relies on nine satellites for ship-to-shore communications, but the spacecraft are aging and need to be replaced soon, said Capt. Edward Enterline, director of Navy Space Systems Division.