News In Brief

Rocket snag scrubs shuttle mission again

The Air Force has canceled a space shuttle mission for the second time because of problems with a satellite rocket that failed last April. Space agency sources have said the July flight was in jeopardy because its military payload was to have used a rocket that failed in April. The rocket, called an inertial upper stage, has not yet been cleared for flight.

According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, an authoritative aerospace magazine, the July Air Force mission was to have used the inertial upper stage to propel a secret Defense Department satellite into a stationary orbit 22,300 miles high.

The Air Force cancellation leaves a four-man NASA shuttle crew without a mission for the second time.