Titan II liftsoff at 3:22a.m.PDT Sept. 21, 2000 from SLC-4 West.

This photo was taken about 5.6 miles away and shows just how
low the cloud ceiling was at launch. On left is SLC-4E the Titan IV pad.
 

 Here's a tight shot of the engines with the UT tower.
 

This photo was taken the with the Tower around the vehicle.
The blur on the right side is the clear door of the camera enclosure opening.

DENVER, Colo., September 21, 2000 - The NOAA-L spacecraft, a Polar-orbiting
            Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) satellite, was launched successfully this morning at
            3:22 a.m. PDT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in
            Sunnyvale, Calif., built NOAA-L, and a Lockheed Martin-built Titan II space launch vehicle,
            provided under contract to the U.S. Air Force by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver,
            Colo., carried the satellite into orbit.

            "This team has been totally dedicated to
            providing NASA and NOAA with
            satellites to extend NOAA's ability to
            forecast the weather," said Al Lauer,
            director of Low Earth Orbit
            Meteorological Programs for Lockheed
            Martin Space Systems-Missiles &
            Space Operations in Sunnyvale, Calif.
            "NOAA-L is the first POES spacecraft
            launched in the fifth decade of this
            program, and the long-standing
            partnership with our NASA and NOAA
            customers is a source of genuine pride
            for Lockheed Martin."

            "We are very proud to be a part of this
            important program for NASA, NOAA
            and the U.S. Air Force," said G.
            Thomas Marsh, president and general
            manager of Lockheed Martin Space
            Systems-Astronautics Operations, the
            company that builds the Titan II launch
            system. "Today's early morning liftoff marked the tenth consecutive successful Titan II launch
            and, more importantly, another successful mission for our customers."

            NOAA-L is the latest model in four generations of POES satellites. All have been designed and
            built for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic
            and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) by Lockheed Martin heritage companies since the
            first TIROS weather satellite launch in April 1960. Most of the spacecraft in the series have
            operated far longer than originally expected, earning them a reputation as the workhorse of the
            civil space Earth-imaging inventory.

            Operating as a pair, two POES satellites orbit the planet in nearly north-south paths. As the
            Earth rotates, the entire globe, one swath at a time, rolls into view of the satellites' instruments.
            The instruments continually sense the entire depth of the atmosphere and report on the following
            weather generating factors:

                 Atmosphere Temperatures and Moisture Soundings
                 Sea-surface Temperatures
                 Land-surface Temperatures
                 Cloud Cover and Heights
                 Precipitable Moisture
                 Total Ozone
                 Clear Radiance
                 Incoming and Radiated Heat

            Together these data comprise irreplaceable inputs to the numerical weather forecast model and
            are vital to medium and long-range forecasting. Separately or in combination, the data are
            utilized to produce sea-surface temperature maps, ice condition charts, snow cover analysis,
            vegetation maps and other forecasting and management tools.

            Additionally, NOAA-L carries an enhanced complement of microwave instruments for the
            generation of temperature, moisture, surface, and hydrological products in cloudy regions where
            visible and infrared instruments have decreased capability. NOAA-L also carries search and
            rescue instruments that are used internationally for locating ships, aircraft, and people in distress.
            The use of satellites in search and rescue has been instrumental in saving more than 11,354 lives
            since the inception of the Search and Rescue Satellite-aided Tracking (SARSAT) system.

            The NOAA-L satellite will operate in a circular, near-polar orbit of 470 nautical miles above the
            Earth with an inclination angle of 98.744 degrees to the equator. Its orbital period, which is the
            time it takes to complete one orbit of the Earth, will be approximately 102 minutes.

            The NOAA-L nominal orbit is Sun-synchronous and rotates eastward about the Earth's polar
            axis 0.986 degrees each day, approximately the same rate and direction as the Earth's average
            daily rotation about the Sun. The rotation keeps the satellite in a constant position with reference
            to the Sun for constant scene illumination throughout the year.

            NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is responsible for the procurement,
            development, launch services, and verification testing of the spacecraft, instruments, and unique
            ground equipment. Following deployment of the spacecraft from the launch vehicle, Goddard is
            responsible for the mission operation phase leading to injection of the satellite into orbit and
            initial in-orbit satellite checkout and evaluation.

            Following the launch and a comprehensive on-orbit verification period that lasts 45 days,
            NASA will turn operational control of the satellites over to NOAA. NOAA will operate the
            satellites from the Satellite Operations Control Center of the National Environmental Satellite,
            Data, and Information Service in Suitland, Md., along with the nation's other environmental
            satellites that it operates.

            NOAA's environmental satellite system is composed of two types of satellites: geostationary
            operational environmental satellites (GOES) for national, regional, short-range warning and
            "now-casting"; and polar-orbiting environmental satellites (POES) for global, long-term
            forecasting and environmental monitoring. Both GOES and POES are necessary for providing a
            complete global weather monitoring system. Both also carry search and rescue instruments to
            relay signals from aviators and mariners in distress.

            In addition, NOAA operates satellites in the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
            (DMSP), which are also polar-orbiting satellites. NOAA also manages the processing and
            distribution of the millions of bits of data and images the GOES and POES satellites produce
            each day.

            On May 5, 1994, President Clinton made the landmark decision to merge the nation's military
            and civil polar-orbiting operational meteorological satellite systems into a single, national system
            capable of satisfying both civil and national security requirements for space-based remotely
            sensed environmental data. The new system is called the National Polar-orbiting Operational
            Environmental Satellite System, or NPOESS. Convergence of the civil and military programs is
            the most significant change in U.S. operational remote sensing since the launch of the first
            weather satellite.

            The first converged satellite is expected to be available for launch in the latter half of the decade,
            approximately 2009, depending on when the remaining POES and DMSP program satellite
            assets are exhausted.

            Titan II intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) served as the vanguard of our nation's
            strategic deterrent for more than two decades. In the late 1960s, 10 Titan IIs also successfully
            launched astronauts as part of the Gemini program. When the Titan II ICBMs were
            decommissioned, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, Calif.,
            contracted with Lockheed Martin to refurbish 14 for use as space launch vehicles. Today's
            launch was the tenth consecutive successful launch of a Titan II space launch vehicle.

            Astronautics and Missiles & Space are two of the operating units of Lockheed Martin's Space
            Systems business area. Astronautics designs, develops, tests and manufactures a variety of
            advanced technology systems for space and defense. Chief products include space launch
            systems, planetary spacecraft and other space systems and ground systems. Missiles & Space is
            a leading supplier of satellites to military, civil government and commercial communications
            organizations around the world. These spacecraft have enhanced military and civilian
            communications; provided new, extensive and timely weather data; studied the Earth and space;
            and furnished new data for thousands of scientists studying our planet and the space around it.