Turns out it was Aussat Pty Ltd’s B-1 satellite, in which Cable & Wireless Plc and BellSouth Corp are investors (CI No 1,861), that was left on the launch pad to the acute embarrassment of the Chinese authorities, which had boldly laid on live television, when the Long March rocket, as such fireworks are prone to do, produced belches of flames and smoke but failed to lift off and eventually fizzled out; Optus Communications Pty Ltd, another of the investors, says that it now expects the bird to fly in July.
