With another successful rocket
launch, Orbital Sciences Corporation continued to build on the
outstanding record of reliability that its family of space and suborbital
launch vehicles has compiled over the past 18 years.
The latest successful
mission for an Orbital-built rocket occurred on Saturday, October 14 at White
Sands Missile Range in New Mexico with the launch of a suborbital target
vehicle for the U.S. Army’s Maneuverable Tactical Target Vehicle (MTTV)
program.
The MTTV rocket, which performed its mission as planned, was used as
a target to test the Patriot missile defense system.

The successful MTTV mission brings Orbital’s overall launch vehicle
mission success record to 135 out of 142 total launches.
These include 34
successes out of a total of 37 missions conducted by the company’s Pegasus,
Taurus and Minotaur space launch vehicles, as well as 101 successes out of 105
total suborbital launches carried out by Orbital’s wide variety of rocket
configurations.

For the MTTV mission, Orbital provided and tested the rocket’s guidance
and separation systems, performed all vehicle design, production and
integration activities, and conducted all launch day mission operations.
The
MTTV rocket is a single stage vehicle which uses a retired U.S. government
rocket engine from the Minuteman ICBM program and a modified Pershing reentry
vehicle.

Orbital is one of the largest space technology and satellite services
companies in the world, with 1999 total enterprise revenues (including
revenues from unconsolidated affiliates) of approximately $915 million.
The
company, headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, employs about 5,000 people at
major facilities in the U.S., Canada and several overseas locations.
Orbital
is the world’s leading manufacturer of low-cost space systems, including
satellites and space robotics, launch vehicles, electronics and sensors,
satellite ground systems and related digital infrastructure.
Its Magellan
subsidiary is a pioneer in satellite-based navigation and communications
products for consumer and industrial markets.
Through its ORBCOMM and
ORBIMAGE affiliates and ORBNAV subsidiary, Orbital is also a major operator of
satellite-based networks that provide data communications, high-resolution
imagery and automotive information services to customers around the world.