GOES-G was a

weather satellite A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or ge ...

to be operated by the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...

. The satellite was designed to sense and monitor meteorological conditions from a

geostationary orbit A geostationary orbit, also referred to as a geosynchronous equatorial orbit''Geostationary orbit'' and ''Geosynchronous (equatorial) orbit'' are used somewhat interchangeably in sources. (GEO), is a circular geosynchronous orbit in altitud ...

, intended to replace GOES-5 and provide continuous vertical profiles of atmospheric temperature and moisture. It was lost due to the launch failure of a Delta 3914 rocket on 3 May 1986.

Launch

Launch occurred on May 3, 1986 at 22:18 GMT, aboard ''Delta 178'', the first NASA launch following the ''Challenger'' disaster. Seventy-one seconds into the flight, the first stage

RS-27 The RS-27 was a liquid-propellant rocket engine developed in 1974 by Rocketdyne to replace the aging MB-3 in the Delta. Incorporating components of the venerable MB-3 and the H-1 designs, the RS-27 was a modernized version of the basic design ...

engine shut down prematurely due to an electrical fault, and the rocket was destroyed by

range safety In the field of rocketry, range safety may be assured by a system which is intended to protect people and assets on both the rocket range and downrange in cases when a launch vehicle might endanger them. For a rocket deemed to be ''off course'' ...

References

External links

NSSDC Entry
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites Satellite launch failures Spacecraft launched in 1986 {{US-spacecraft-stub