Astronaut - Comets - NASA - Space - Spacecraft - UFOs
Nov. 11, 1981 - Kennedy Space Center, Fla. -- Its access tower rolled away for launch, Delta 158 stands ready to hurl the RCA SATCOM D, a domestic communications satellite, into space. The two-stage Delta rocket is scheduled for lift off at 8:30 p.m. from Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A Payload Assist Module stage attached to the spacecraft will inject RCA D into an egg-shaped orbit with a high point of 22, 205 miles. RCA spacecraft controllers fire a solid-propellant kick motor on the 24-channel spacecraft to place the domestic communications carrier into a circular geo-synchronous orbit at 131 degrees west longitude where it can provide the entire United States with a variety of communications services including voice, data, facsimile, radio and television
