The launch originated from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California when Orbital's L-1011 ``Stargazer'' carrier aircraft took off at approximately 10:05 p.m. Pacific time. The aircraft flew off the California coast at an altitude of 39,000 feet to a pre-determined location over the Pacific Ocean, where the Pegasus rocket was released and ignited its first stage at approximately 11:05 p.m. After a flight of approximately 10 minutes, Pegasus delivered the SNOE and T1 satellites into their planned orbits at an altitude of approximately 565 kilometers, inclined at 97.7 degrees. Initial communications were with the SNOE satellite were established as it passed over a ground station at Poker Flat, Alaska about an hour after its deployment.

Initial communications with the T1 satellite are expected to be established later today at Orbital's satellite ground control station at the company's Dulles, Virginia headquarters.

The SNOE Satellite

The SNOE spacecraft and its instruments were designed and built by a team of students and engineers at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The 254 pound satellite carries three instruments: an ultraviolet spectrometer to measure nitric oxide altitude profiles, a two-channel photometer to measure auroral emissions beneath the spacecraft and a five-channel solar soft X-ray photometer. SNOE will investigate the effects of energy from the sun and the magnetosphere on the density of nitric oxide in the Earth's upper atmosphere. The extreme variability of nitric oxide may also be important to ozone chemistry in the middle atmosphere.

SNOE is the first of three student satellite projects selected to be built under the Student Explorer Demonstration Initiative (STEDI) program. Funded by NASA and managed by the Universities Space Research Association, STEDI is a pilot program designed to assess the effectiveness of smaller, low-cost space flight missions. The next STEDI mission, Boston University's TERRIERS satellite, is also scheduled to be launched on Pegasus.

Teledesic's T1 Satellite

Teledesic's T1 satellite, previously called the Broadband Advanced Technology satellite (BATSAT), is an experimental satellite designed and built by an Orbital, Teledesic and Boeing team. Known as T1 for Teledesic 1, it is the world's first commercial ``Ka'' frequency band LEO spacecraft. The T1 satellite is part of Teledesic's ongoing developmental effort to build its global, broadband ``Internet-in-the-Sky'' network, which was licensed by the Federal Communications Commission last year. Teledesic plans to use a constellation of 288 low-Earth-orbit satellites to create the world's first network providing affordable, worldwide, ``fiber-like'' access to telecommunications services, such as linking enterprise computing networks, broadband Internet access, videoconferencing and other digital data needs. The Kirkland, Wash.-based company is backed by telecommunications pioneer Craig McCaw and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

Orbital provided the T1 satellite bus, which is based on the company's MicroStar(TM) spacecraft platform, and Boeing supplied the payload for the commercial communications satellite. MicroStar has served as the basis for 14 satellites that are currently in orbit, as well as nearly 30 more satellites now in production. The latest launch of MicroStar spacecraft occurred on February 10, 1998, when two ORBCOMM satellites were deployed by Orbital's Taurus(R) rocket.

The Pegasus Launch System

Orbital's Pegasus rocket is the world's leading launch system for the deployment of small satellites into low-Earth orbit. Its patented air-launch system has enabled Orbital to conduct operations from five separate launch sites, including four sites in the U.S. and one in Europe, the first time a space launch vehicle has provided such operational flexibility. Pegasus is carried aloft by the company-owned L-1011 ``Stargazer'' aircraft to a point approximately 40,000 feet over open ocean areas, where it is released and then free-falls in a horizontal position for five seconds before igniting its first stage rocket motor.

The SNOE/T1 launch represents the 20th Pegasus mission since the rocket's debut in 1990. In recent years, Orbital has significantly increased the number of Pegasus launches performed each year. In 1997, Pegasus scored perfect marks, successfully conducting five missions for government and commercial customers. The SNOE/T1 launch is the first of eight Pegasus missions scheduled for 1998.

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