Cassini to Launch, Sans Protesters
From Times Wire Reports
Nearly all the protesters left town in case the rocket carrying NASA’s Cassini spacecraft blows up with its 72 pounds of highly radioactive plutonium. Engineers and scientists on the project brought their families to Cape Canaveral, Fla., to witness, and demonstrate the safety of, the launch of the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. The liftoff of the Titan 4-B rocket with Cassini was scheduled for 1:55 a.m. PDT today. Cassini is an 11-year, $3.4-billion mission.
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