Washington – May 19, 1999 – While the investigations into twin and unrelated upper stage failures continue, the Air Force decided Tuesday to release the basic Lockheed Martin Titan IVB rocket for flight.
A Titan IVB carrying a classified payload will launch between midnight Friday evening May 21st and 4am Saturday (PDT) the 22nd from the Air Force's Vandenberg launch site on the California coast.
There is no upper stage on this vehicle, Lockheed Martin and Air Force officials confirm, thus there was no need for a delay for the results of the IUS/Centaur investigations.
Customer for the launch is the secret National Reconnaissance Office. The payload will either have its own kick stage motor or will use the launcher's core second stage for insertion.
According to Space Today, the satellite is most likely a $1 billion spy satellite that uses radar to peer through clouds and below ground.
