ROD%SU-AI@sri-unix.UUCP (02/20/84)
From: Rod Brooks <ROD@SU-AI>
a278 2031 13 Feb 84
AM-Shuttle-July,330
Hitch in Shuttle Cargo Reported
HOUSTON (AP) - The Air Force has postponed the launch of a secret
military satellite which was to be put into orbit in a July space
shuttle flight, a newspaper says.
The decision could cause the cancellation of the flight, the Houston
Chronicle said in a story in its Tuesday editions.
The Chronicle said an Air Force spokesman at the Johnson Space
Center, who was not identified, confirmed Monday that the payload has
been pulled from the July flight. That spokesman could not say for
certain the flight had been canceled.
The source said the Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration were negotiating a new launch date.
But NASA officials told the Chronicle they have not been informed of
the Air Force action and that as of now the flight is on their
schedule.
Air Force officials said they could not say, because of security
reasons, why the cargo had been removed, the Chronicle said.
But it noted that space agency officials said last week the secret
mission was in jeopardy because it was to use an Interim Upper Stage
rocket to put the satellite into stationary orbit. One of these
rockets failed last April and put its $100 million satellite into the
wrong orbit, requiring a long and costly rescue effort.
''If you don't have a cargo, you either seek an alternate mission or
cancel the flight,'' John McLeaish, head of public affairs at Johnson
Space Center, was quoted as saying.
Glynn Lunney, program manager of the shuttle system, has not yet
been told that the Air Force has canceled its cargo, McLeaish said.
Cancellation of the mission will leave astronauts Thomas Mattingly,
Loren Shriver, Ellison Onizuka and James Buchli without a flight for
the second time. They were to have flown the shuttle on a military
mission last fall. That flight was canceled because of the rocket
problems.
Cancellation of the flight will leave eight missions on the launch
scheduled for this year.
ap-ny-02-13 2330EDT
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