[FPSPACE] QuickBird 1 launch failed

[Dwayne Allen Day]

On Tue, 21 Nov 2000, Igor Lissov wrote:

> > QuickBird 1 should have been launched from Plesetsk Area 132 by
> > Kosmos-3M launch vehicle November 20 at 22:00 UTC.
> > Intended orbit inclination is 66 deg.
> 
> The launch failed. No confirmation was received of objects at intended
> orbit.  OIG has the following elset:

Does this mean that the rocket failed in flight or that it was never
launched?

If this is a launch failure and the bird was destroyed, that would be the
latest in a number of disasters for the US commercial remote sensing
industry.  Lockheed lost its first Ikonos bird on an Athena out of
Vandenberg, and I think an earlier imaging satellite was lost on a Russian
launch vehicle (START?).



DDAY