spacetoday.net: News briefs: October 2

Posted: Wed, Oct 3, 2001, 11:40 AM ET (1540 GMT)
The launch of a Titan 4B carrying a classified military payload has been pushed back again, this time to Thursday. Spaceflight Now reported late Tuesday that the Air Force has been investigating two separate problems with the booster: a possible guidance computer glitch and a faulty telemetry unit on one of the solid rocket boosters. The guidance computer has since been cleared for launch and the telemetry unit replaced. The launch, once scheduled for Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, will place what is believed to be an advanced reconnaissance satellite into orbit... A worker was killed Tuesday at a new launch complex at Cape Canaveral. The Boeing employee was apparently crushed when a crane that is part of the Launch Complex 37 mobile service tower pinned him against a wall. The death is the second in three months at LC37, which will be used by Boeing's new Delta 4 boosters starting next year... A report by the Teal Group published Tuesday estimates that there are between 600 and 610 operational spacecraft either in Earth orbit or deep space. The report also notes that 30 spacecraft have been launched so far this year, two-thirds of which have been built by American firms.