WEATHER SATELLITE ORBITING — The United States has launched into orbit the first baby weather station in space. It was hurled into its earth-circling path at 10:55 a.m.
Feb. 17, and its predicted lifetime is several decades. The batteries powering the radio transmitting weather information, however, have only a two-week lifetime. The 20-inch, 21.5-pound satellite was one unit in the Navy’s trouble-plagued Project Vanguard, originally scheduled to launch several satellites during the International Geophysical Year that ended last Dec.
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