SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : Douglas’ Delta II Launches Air Force Navigation Satellite

A Delta II rocket blasted off Monday and put a $65-million Air Force navigation satellite into orbit, marking McDonnell Douglas’ eighth commercial rocket launch of 1989.

The Delta II is built by McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. in Huntington Beach. McDonnell Douglas is building 18 of the Delta II rockets for the Air Force, at a cost of about $50 million each, to launch Navstar navigation satellites designed to pinpoint within 50 feet the location of military troops and vehicles anywhere in the world.

A McDonnell Douglas spokeswoman said the company has executed more commercial launches this year than its competition. McDonnell Douglas’ main competitors in the commercial rocket business are General Dynamics, Martin Marietta and the European consortium Arianespace.

The Navstar launch was the fifth of 18 satellites that the Air Force plans to place into orbit by the mid-1990s as part of a worldwide navigation system. The satellites are built by Rockwell International’s Satellite and Space Electronics Division in Seal Beach.

The Delta launch was originally scheduled Sunday but was canceled because of a scratched helium regulator that would have prevented the rocket’s second-stage engine from igniting. Technicians fixed the problem Sunday night by installing a relief valve in the helium system, which is used to pressurize the second-stage fuel tanks.