Mighty Atlas carries satellite into orbit

CNN ^ | July 18, 2003 | CNN

[klpt]

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- A Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket launched successfully from Florida with a new commercial communications satellite bound for high-Earth orbit.

The Rainbow 1 satellite, owned by Cablevision Systems Corp. and built by Lockheed Martin Corp., was headed for a stationary orbit 22,000 miles above Earth. It should begin providing direct-to-home service to North America later this year, according to Lockheed, which built the satellite as well as the rocket.

[Chi-townChief]

It's kind of amazing how well the 40-year-old technology still works in a pinch.

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[boris]

"It's kind of amazing how well the 40-year-old technology still works in a pinch."

It is also amazing that it flies with Russian engines, making a key U.S. launch asset vulnerable to a potentially-hostile foreign source; something the Air Force swore they would never allow.

Who cares about all those U.S. aerospace workers sent into unemployment lines by Russian dumping of engines and blatant lying by Lockheed and Pratt & Whitney?

--Boris