Jun 9 1984
From The Space Library
June 9-11: Investigations were continuing into why a $30 million international communications satellite, INTELSAT 5, tumbled out of control after launch June 9 by a new model Atlas-Centaur rocket. NASA launch director Skip Mackey said that attention focused on a thruster jet, 1 of 14 small jets intended to keep the upper stage of the Atlas-Centaur rocket flying straight. Mackey said that a fuel filter in one of the jets may have become clogged, causing the upper stage and the attached satellite to spin out of control 23 minutes after launch. The rocket and satellite were in a looping orbit ranging from 93 to 750 miles high, circling the Earth every 90 minutes.
It had been the 62nd launch of an Atlas Centaur rocket, but it was the first of the new lengthened model. The International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT) had paid NASA $60 million to launch the satellite, which had 12,000 voice channels and 2 color television channels and was to have joined 15 other satellites serving the 108-nation organization. (NASA Release 84-62; W Post, June 10/84, A-13, June 11/84, A-4; W Times, June 11/84, 4A)
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