Military Satellite Fails for Third Time
From Times Wire Reports
A military communications satellite worth $800 million ended up in the wrong orbit, the third failure in a row for the Air Force’s most powerful rocket. Everything appeared to go well as the Titan IV lifted off at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after being delayed 1 1/2 hours by minor technical problems and overnight thunderstorms. But seven hours later, Air Force officials said that the Defense Department’s newest Milstar satellite was in a lopsided orbit thousands of miles below the intended 22,300-mile-high orbit.
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