
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 20, 1990                   TAG: 9007200282
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

SATELLITE WILL MONITOR EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD

An unmanned Atlas rocket makes its commercial debut today when it lifts off with a government satellite designed to study Earth's magnetic field and monitor space radiation.

NASA and rocket builder General Dynamics plan to launch the Atlas at 3:33 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The mission comes at a critical time for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, under attack for the crippled Hubble Space Telescope and a shuttle fleet that, until this week, had been grounded by fuel leaks.

The Atlas 1 rocket will boost the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite to an elliptical orbit 217 miles by 22,236 miles high. The flight marks the company's entry into the commercial launch market.

- Associated Press

by CNB