May 5, 1997

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HEADLINE NEWS

Boeing Boosts Space Role with Stake in Teledesic

SEATTLE Boeing’s decision last week to invest up to $100 million in Teledesic underscores its strong push into commercial space markets while helping legitimize Teledesic’s ambitious plan for a low-altitude, 288-satellite communications constellation.

By PAUL PROCTOR7 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Industry Posts Solid Revenue, Profit Gains

NEW YORK Most major U.S. aerospace/defense companies, along with many of their vendors, are expected to sustain in the near term the healthy earnings and revenue growth the industry posted for the first quarter. On the commercial side, robust sales of new aircraft—and the likelihood that demand will further strengthen—almost certainly will be reflected in companies’ financial performance for some time to come.

By ANTHONY L. VELOCCI6 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Mir Science, New Suit Highlight Joint Eva

KOROLEV FLIGHT CONTROL CENTER The 5-hr. extravehicular activity conducted Apr. 29 by U.S. and Russian crewmembers on the Mir station tested a new Russian Zvezda Orlan space suit and exchanged several hundred pounds of science instrumentation on Mir’s exterior.

By CRAIG COVAULT3 min

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HEADLINE NEWS

McDonnell Douglas Readies Delta Return

Los Angeles McDonnell Douglas officials last week said they would go ahead with the launch of two Delta boosters this month, restarting a busy schedule after a 3½-month delay that has followed the failure of a Delta booster last January at Cape Canaveral.

By Bruce A. Smith3 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Darkstar Camera Takes First Images

WASHINGTON A long-range camera that was built for the stealthy DarkStar unmanned aerial vehicle has successfully taken its first imagery from a special operations Pacer Coin PC-130 reconnaissance aircraft. The successful test in April of Recon/Optical’s CA-236 sensor, a panoramic scanning camera, constituted a critical milestone for the high-altitude, long-endurance DarkStar program.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM2 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Atlas Launches Goes-k Satellite for Hurricane Watches

Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA flight controllers are maneuvering the advanced Goes-K weather satellite to its geosynchronous orbital position and checking out the spacecraft’s systems following its launch from here on an Atlas 1. The satellite is to be positioned in an orbital slot at 105-deg. W. Long, as an orbital spare for the Geostationary Operational Environment Satellites 8 and 9.

By James T. McKenna2 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Navy Wins Initial Funding for Five V-22 Aircraft

Dallas The U.S. Navy will fund production of five Bell/Boeing V-22 aircraft under a $402-million contract awarded last week that includes provision for another $49.7 million to build a second batch of five aircraft that would be delivered in 2000.

HEADLINE NEWS

CIA Aerial Spy Tracks Peruvian Rebels

Washington The special forces assault on the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru, was aided by observations made from a low-noise, U.S.-built Schweizer aircraft operated by the Central Intelligence Agency. Using a forward-looking infrared camera at night and, likely, a high-resolution television during the day, or multispectral sensor for non-visible-light observations, the two-man aircraft was able to track the movement of 72 hostages and their 14 Tupac Amaru guards.

April 281997

May 121997

May 5, 1997

May 5, 1997

Russia Acts on Station Snafus

By CRAIG COVAULT7 min