Washington – May 10, 1999 – The review into Tuesday's Delta III failure has concluded that all elements of the launcher common to the smaller Delta II performed as planned during the brief mission, Boeing officials announced Thursday.
"All the common hardware-there's no question that it worked," said Dr. Russ Reck, Boeing accident team lead in a press conference at Cape Canaveral, Florida. "We have briefed the Air Force on this, and the next Delta II is an Air Force Launch," Reck added. The scheduled late May launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida is to lift a GPS IIR-3 satellite.
If the Air Force agrees, the smaller launcher will be able to fly its remaining 11 launches manifested for the remainder of 1999. Some 18 Delta IIIs are manifested as well, with the next scheduled for launch, also from the Cape, in October. Boeing officials say that they hope to isolate the cause of the Delta III launcher no. 2 failure and still meet the fall launch schedule.
Reck was able to release new details on the launch vehicle's final moments Thursday. He reported that the Pratt and Whitney RL-10 engine fired up for only a second in its planned three minute second burn, leaving Orion III in the same parking orbit as established by the engine's first burn.
But at the moment of the shutdown, Reck said a number of as yet unexplained events were happening to the rocket. This included a strange 25 psi spike on pressure in the engine's liquid oxygen pump inlet, a sudden shock to the stage as recorded by a g-force indicator, and other events still being investigated. The pressure spike was a higher burst than normal for that stage of the rocket's flight.
It was also revealed Thursday that the cost of the launch vehicle plus the Orion satellite was fully insured at $265 million total. The accident investigation team moves to Boeing's Huntington Beach, California facility Saturday to continue their work.
