McDonnell Douglas Co says from its base in Huntington Beach, California that it has been chosen by GE American Communications Inc to launch and orbit the latter’s Satcom C-5 satellite using a commercial version of the Delta II rocket, giving the commercial Delta its eighth launch contract: the agreement calls for a launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida in the second quarter of 1991 and GE American Communications will retain ownership of up to 10 transponders on the C-5 for service to its commercial and government customers; after the Shuttle catastrophe and the resulting shortage of US launch vehicles to put satellites into orbit – plus the problems, now solved, on Europe’s Ariance rocket, owing them to build new iterations of rockets originally developed for the National Aeronautics & Space Administration.
