October 1998, Cover Story
It's a bird, it's a phone, it's the world's first pan-national corporation, able to leap geopolitical barriers in a single bound.
From the first paragraph:
When the rocket finally lifted off, nine motors pushing hard against the ground, carrying five satellites cushioned against the staccato shock of acceleration, there weren't many people left to watch from the hardscrabble hilltop, with its bleachers and Portosan and pay phone. The May launch was three weeks late, delayed once when the payload specialists detected a leak of the deadly green fluid hydrazine, and again when a US Air Force weather balloon calculated that the wind would blow the plugs in the motors down into the Lompoc Valley, lethal discs falling from the sky - maybe onto someone's roof - ruining an otherwise perfect day.
So only a few remained - engineers and Air Force personnel and a few lucky kids - to see the last launch in a series that would create the world's biggest satellite constellation.
Click here to read the rest of the story at Wired.com.
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