Launch officials cleared
the Boeing Delta II rocket for its scheduled launch of five Iridium satellites Friday, Sept. 4, from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The five-second launch window opens at 2:35:53 p.m. PDT.
“The technical issues that we are focusing on with the Delta III
investigation have also been evaluated on the Delta II launch vehicle,” said Darryl VanDorn, Boeing director of NASA and commercial Delta programs. “The results of this evaluation have shown that these issues do not apply to the Delta II,” said VanDorn.
“The Delta II that is ready to fly is of the same configuration which has
already successfully placed 45 Iridium system satellites into orbit for
Motorola with nine launches between May 1997 and May 1998.”
Boeing will provide a live broadcast of the launch on Sept. 4, beginning
at 2:15 p.m. PDT. Satellite coordinates are: (Ku-band) GE 3K, Transponder 19, located at 87 degrees west with a downlink frequency of 12080 MHz horizontal; (C-band) Galaxy VI, Transponder 22, located at 99 degrees west with a downlink frequency of 4140 MHz vertical.
