THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 18, 1995 TAG: 9509180041
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Look for a phrase to describe the Conestoga rocket in the past two months and ``star-crossed'' may spring to mind. By early August, four previous launch attempts from NASA's Wallops Island rocket range on the Eastern Shore had been stymied by equipment glitches, bad weather and other unexpected developments.
When the fifth try came, on the clear, balmy Sunday evening of Aug. 13, it seemed as though the rocket finally would soar to space. But with just over a minute and a half remaining in the countdown, liftoff was scrubbed.
A tired and dejected Jim Hengle, a vice president with the rocket's parent company, EER Systems Inc., faced the press that night. Hengle explained the blastoff was prevented by the equivalent of a ``flat tire'' - difficulties with several of the rocket's steering nozzles that would have prevented the vehicle from maneuvering safely through the atmosphere and into orbit.
Now, Hengle says his company has nearly resolved those problems and is ready to try again.
``Getting into space is a hard business,'' he said. ``Usually you get one chance. In our case, we were lucky; we didn't put anything into the bottom of the ocean. We're getting a second shot.''
Despite its 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 carry the 14 experiments into space.
While no official launch date has been set, liftoff could come in mid-October.
This time, Hengle said, the launch crew is ``checking everything that might be even a hint of a problem'' before certifying the rocket and its cargo fit for flight.
Fortunately for experimenters, the rocket sits still on its Wallops launch pad. Only three experiments have been removed, because of their perishability.
The experiments 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.
``Financially, EER is pressed to do this (launch) as quickly as possible,'' said Ray Stanley, a senior NASA Wallops official. ``Some of their customers have deadlines - Motorola, for instance.''
Motorola is known to be developing a network of small orbital communications satellites that would enable subscribers to communicate from anywhere on the globe. While the firm says only that its Conestoga payload is of ``a proprietary nature,'' other competitors - including Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. - are gearing up to deploy their own products.
According to Hengle, none of the firms or institutions sponsoring Conestoga payloads has pulled out of the mission because of the delays.
``There are 101 reasons why launches don't happen,'' said Jan Bijvoet, a microgravity researcher at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and a veteran designer of nearly a dozen in-space studies. An acceleration-measuring device made by Bijvoet and his colleagues remains packed away in the Conestoga's nose cone.
``These delays are nothing new,'' he said.
``I have good confidence the rocket will go.''
But one crucial delay would be entirely out of EER's hands. Political gridlock over the federal budget could shut down NASA and the Wallops Island launch facility in October or early November.
``All this stuff with Congress could come right in the middle of the launch activity,'' Stanley said. ``If the government is out of money, there's not much launch-range action.''
Every day the launch is put off, EER takes a considerable economic hit. While the company won't confirm exact figures, officials in the past have alluded to daily dollar losses in the thousands.
``I don't think it's hundreds of dollars a day,'' Hengle said. ``It's not unbearable. We're watching our purse strings while we're in a repair mode.''
Should Conestoga succeed, it will boost the economic prospects of its parent company. At present, nearly every American commercial rocket is having some kind of design or engine difficulty.
So a success could mean more Conestoga liftoffs, and a bright future for EER.
``So far they've done a very professional job,'' said experimenter Bijvoet. ``I'm just waiting for the launch.'' by CNB