Demonstration of Orbital Interceptor Concept Deemed "Success"

Orbital Sciences Corporation reports it successfully launched the first prototype of an interceptor boost vehicle the company hopes to manufacture for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's (MDA) Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system under a contract from The Boeing Company. In a mission that originated from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Orbital's GMD boost vehicle was launched Friday at 4:00 p.m. (EST). It flew a ballistic trajectory over the Pacific Ocean, reaching an altitude of approximately 1,125 miles and traveling about 3,500 miles down range from the launch site.

After an taking an initial look at analysis of the data collected from the mission, Orbital confirmed that all the primary objectives for the first launch of the GMD boost vehicle had been achieved. These included the verification of the vehicle design and flight characteristics, the gathering of flight data through comprehensive onboard instrumentation, and the confirmation of the expected performance of the propulsion system.

 "I would like to commend the joint Boeing/Orbital team and our key suppliers for maintaining an extremely aggressive schedule to design, produce, test and deliver a new boost vehicle for the Missile Defense Agency in just 13 months, from the start of the contract to today's successful launch,"  said Ron Grabe, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Orbital's Launch Systems Group.

The government contract to develop, manufacturing and test interceptor boost vehicles for MDA's GMD system is worth almost $1 billion, including firm and optional orders. The firm portion of the company's contract, awarded in early 2002, is valued at approximately $450 million and extends through 2007. Orbital's GMD boost vehicle is a three-stage system based on flight-proven hardware that has flown over 40 times on missions carried out by the company's Pegasus®, Taurus® and Minotaur® space launch vehicles.

FMI: www.orbital.com