Orbital Sciences Corporation's L-1011 carrier aircraft with the Pegasus(r) XL rocket took off on Tuesday, December 23, from NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia at 1:13 p.m. (EST). The aircraft flew approximately 60 miles off the Virginia coast to a predetermined point 39,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean, where the Pegasus rocket was released at 2:11 p.m. (EST). After a 72-minute flight, the eight OrbComm satellites were injected into their target orbit. Within hours, initial communications with the new satellites had begun. OrbComm's newly launched satellites are currently undergoing a three-month testing and deployment phase.

``We are pleased to have established ground communications with seven of the satellites and are working to communicate with the eighth,'' said Alan Parker, OrbComm president and CEO. ``In addition, one of the satellites is generating reduced power, the cause and effects of which are currently under evaluation. We are ahead of schedule in our evaluations and testing of the satellites and will continue to complete further testing. We are preparing to launch the next 18 satellites in our constellation by the middle of 1998, and are eager to bring the innovative concept of real-time global data and messaging to businesses and consumers worldwide.''

OrbComm is a mobile satellite service provider offering high-value, two-way data and messaging communications globally through international service licensees and in the U.S. through value-added resellers and direct sales. OrbComm applications include monitoring of industrial assets such as pipelines, storage tanks, and construction equipment; tracking of mobile assets such as trailers, railcars and shipping containers; and two-way message communications in the recreational, commercial, military and automotive markets.