THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 13, 1995 TAG: 9510130525
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines
Despite an estimated $73 million-plus development cost, the Conestoga launch is billed as the first of a generation of low-cost, commercially oriented rockets that will take customers' payloads quickly and inexpensively into orbit. Advocates hope a successful Conestoga flight will establish the Wallops range as ``Spaceport Virginia,'' home to a number of concerns that will want to make money from microgravity and vacuum.
Before that happens, though, EER's rocket must make it to space. Only three experiments have been removed from the craft's nosecone within the last nine weeks. These will be reloaded a day before liftoff, Hengle said.
The studies carried by the EER rocket run the gamut, from investigations of ways to produce better disease-fighting drugs, to the effects of temperature extremes on materials, to the behavior of plants while in orbit.
None of the Conestoga mission's sponsors has pulled out because of the postponements, Hengle said.
Within the last several weeks, he said, ground crews have conducted launch simulations intended to root out glitches. So far, none has been found.
A final dress rehearsal is scheduled for Monday. Barring problems discovered then, or the possibility of bad weather, Hengle said,the Conestoga will be set to blast off as now scheduled.
``We are satisfied they've fixed the problems they've had,'' said H. Ray Stanley, a senior NASA Wallops official.
``There are no outstanding technical problems. We are back in a full-go condition,'' Stanley said. by CNB