spacetoday.net: Sea Launch, Ariane flights delayed

Posted: Mon, Jan 8, 2001, 10:49 PM ET (0349 GMT)
Two launches scheduled for within an hour of one another were both scrubbed late Monday. An Ariane 4 launch scheduled for between 5:08 and 6:51 pm EST (2208 and 2351 GMT) from Kourou, French Guiana was postponed for one day because of poor weather conditions aloft. A Zenit 3SL was scheduled to lift off at 5:35 pm EST (2235 GMT) from the Sea Launch floating launch platform in the Pacific, but that mission was aborted just 11 seconds before liftoff because of an unspecified technical problem. The Zenit launch will likely be delayed at least four to five days to resolve the problem and prepare for another launch attempt. The Ariane 4 will carry the Eurasiasat 1 communications satellite while the Zenit will launch the XM-1 "Roll" radio broadcasting satellite for XM Satellite Radio. The two launches are competing to be the first of the new year (and arguably of the new millennium.)