Lockheed OKs resumption of Atlas II launches

The Atlas II MESSAGE BOARD Private companies in space

August 30, 1999
Web posted at: 5:01 p.m. EDT (2101 GMT)

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Lockheed Martin has given the go-ahead for its Atlas II launch program to resume, starting with the September 10 launch of EchoStar V on an Atlas IIAS.

Atlas launch operations had been on hold since early May following a Delta III launch failure in May that left an Orion communication satellite in the wrong orbit.

That failure investigation focused on Delta's RL10B-2 upper stage engine, which is similar to the RL10A-4 version used on Atlas' Centaur upper stage, Lockheed Martin said in a statement.

Lockheed Martin supported an industry team, led by Boeing and Pratt & Whitney, to investigate the Delta III launch failure. Concurrently, Lockheed Martin developed its own approach to clearing Atlas to ensure that no aspects the RL10 engine versions have in common were overlooked, the company said.

Other upcoming launches include the Atlas IIA launch of the UHF Follow-On F10 satellite from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on September 30 and the EOS Terra-1 spacecraft on an Atlas IIAS from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in October.