----------------------------Original message----------------------------
As of a news release from Dept. of Commerce/NOAA, received
here at ASPRS at 4:33 pm EDT yesterday afternoon:
 
Satelllite controllers have been unable to establish contact with
Landsat 6, an earth-resource satellite launched Oct. 5, the Commerce
Dept.'s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today.
 
The satellite was launched aboard a Titan II space launch vehicle
from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 10:56 PDT.  After launch, controllers
did not receive signals from teh satellite when it was expected to pass oiver a
ground station at Kiruna, Sweden.
 
It was undetermined whether the spacecraft has achieved orbit, NOAA said.
 
An intensive analysis of this problem is underway by NOAA and the
satellite's commercial operator, Earth Observation Satellie Co. (EOSAT),
and its contractors.
  Another paragraphs follows, briefly describing the satellite, with
the final sentence station that NOAA is convening a formal review board to
investigate the problem.
  Early reports had stated that the satellite had been found in orbit, but
those statements were later claimed to have been based on a false i.d.
of the spacecraft.  It looks like it's pretty much gone at this point.
of the spacecraft.  It looks like it's pretty much gone at this point.
   Don Hemenway, ASPRS