European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 29, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday August 29, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 5 . Launches 1 St commercial rocket British communications satellite put in orbit Cape canaveral. Fla. A the first . Commercial satellite rocket was launched sunday pro Pelling a $150 million British communications pay Load into orbit. The three stage Delta Booster built by Mcdonnell Douglas blasted off at 6 59 . Edwand left a fiery Trail in a Clear sky As it sped out Over the Atlantic Ocean with the 2,700-Pound Marc Polo i satellite packed in its nose Cone. Delta 187 has placed the British satellite Broad casting satellite in orbit we wish the spacecraft Folk Good Luck Mcdonnell Douglas launch commentator Kay Adams reported 30 minutes after liftoff. Adams said the $30 million Delta had done its Job and drilled the satellite into an initial highly elliptical orbit ranging from about 100 to 22,300 Miles High. On tuesday ground controllers plan to Send a signal to fire an inboard motor to arrest the satellite in a geostationary orbit at 22,300 Miles parking it Over the Middle Atlantic Ocean within View of the British Isles. The successful launch was an important Milestone in a commercial space program started when former president Reagan ordered the National aeronautics and space administration to Stop launching payloads for commercial customers after the space shuttle Chal Lenger exploded in 1986. Reagan said the Job should be done by private Industry with unmanned rockets. One reason for Reagan s decision was the nation s growing Reliance on the manned space shuttle As the sole Booster for space payloads. This is not just another launch it s the beginning of a new Industry a landmark event said Stephanie Lee Miller of the department of transportation which licenses commercial launches. There arc 30 such launches on the Dot Manifest in the next few years she said at a news conference. Marc Polo j is the first of two satellites designed to transmit television programs direct to British Homes equipped with a 12-Inch-Diamctcr Antenna a set top Box and a Remote control unit. The equipment will Cost its customers about $450 each said Anthony Simonds Gooding. Chief executive officer of British satellite broadcasting Ltd. Operator of the satellite sys tem. Three major . Aerospace companies have taken on the commercial space program in Earnest and the Mcdonnell Douglas Delta was the first to the launch pad. Martin Marietta has scheduled a commercial launch with its Titan rocket later this year and the general dynamics Atlas is to make its debut next year. All three rockets arc upgraded versions of boosters Nasa and the air Force have used for several years. The three companies will compete with each other and with the Well established european ariane rocket program. Several smaller american companies Are developing rockets for boosting Small commercial payloads into orbit or on Brief suborbital trips. Space services inc. Of Houston last March launched its Consort i rocket on a 15-Minutc up and Down Ili Ghl thai exposed a 630-Pound payload of science experiments to seven minutes of weightlessness. The experiments assembled by the University of Alabama i lung Seville. Studied How liquids react in Zero Gravity. Orbital sciences corp. And i ice Cults aerospace co. Arc developing a unique concept for launching com Mercial payloads into orbit with a rocket dropped from beneath the Wing of an airborne b-52 bomber. The first launch of the Pegasus rocket is scheduled in octo Ber. British satellite broadcasting in 1987 selected Hughes aircraft co. To build the to Marc Polo satellites under a $300 million contract. Mcdonnell Douglas is charging Hughes $50 million for each of the two launches. Hughes will verify that the satellites arc in orbit and working before British satellite broadcasting accepts them. The second launch is planned next summer. Simonds Gooding said bib plans to Start broadcast ing to Homes through the satellite next Spring with customers initially receiving five channels four of them free. The charge will be about $15 monthly for the movie Channel which shows movies from around the world. The free channels will consist of now for news Rind sports Galaxy devoted to entertainment such As game shows a lifestyle Channel and a youth oriented Channel such As mtg. Biographical novelist Irving Stone Dies at 86 los Angeles a author Irving Stone the Pioneer of the biographical novel died saturday at Cedars Sinai medical Center Hospital spokeswoman Paula Cortena said sunday. He was 86. He was admitted to the Hospital on july 24 after complaining of difficulty i swallowing. Death was attributed to heart failure. Stone s biographical novels sold More than 30 million copies. His fictionalized portraits included Michelangelo in the agony and the ecstasy Vincent Vangogh in lust for life Jack London in Sailor on horseback Abraham and Mary Lincoln in love is eternal Sig Mund Freud in the passions of the mind Charles Darwin in the origin Andrew and Rachel Jackson in the president s lady and Eugene Debs in adversary in the  he also wrote Clarence Darrow for the  a biography of the Fame lawyer. Five of his books were made int movies. The agony and the ecstasy released in 1965, starred Charlton hcs ton in the title role. Lust for life re leased in 1956, featured Kirk Douglas As Van Gogh and Anthony Quinn As Paul  brought history to millions of people who otherwise might not be inter ested in  said Herbert Mitgang. Cultural correspondent for the new York times. His wife Jean said he was working on a biographical novel up to his death and she hoped it would somehow be completed in the future. She did not disclose the subject of the Book. The Only thing he Ever wanted to Dowas write books and that s what he did air his life and we did it  she said in a  interview. That will be his immortality the books he  born in san Francisco on july 14. 1903, Stone attended the University of California at Berkeley and taught economics  went to Paris in 1926 where he made his first acquaintance with the impressionist artists. Out of it came lust for life published in 1934, it was turned Down by 17 publishers in new York and Boston Stone recalled in a 1984 interview. Always with the same comment How can you sell a Book about an unknown dutch Painter to the american Public in the Middle of a depression he said. At the time i was engaged to Jean Factor but i had no Money to get mar ried. She said let me Road the Book she suggested making cuts Here and there Irving Stone and prepared a new typescript. Long mans Green which had published Only one novel before accepted  lust for life allowed Stone and Factor to marry and she has been his editor Ever since. For 55 years they had been associated with Doubleday & co. One of the houses that initially rejected lust for  Stone once said he never got lonely Asa writer and added i have always believed that the Book is the most important tool that Man has Ever invented More important than the wheel Cement or running water. As Long As i can remember i never wanted to do anything but write. I started with a Short Story at 9. I never stopped even when 1 was rejected by the literary Magazine at Berkeley. My Manu script came Back with the note Why Don t you learn How to write " he said. He meticulously researched each of his novels spending months delving into archives scouring libraries digging in basements and living in Garrett studios and even asylums. To write the inner truth of these peo ple i have to get inside them. I have to go through absolutely everything they did he said. Stone is survived by his wife son Ken Neth and daughter Paula. Police say crack dealers Are moving into Chicago Sands of time Chicago a crack cocaine a common problem on the East and West coasts is showing up More and More in the Chicago area police say. Authorities Don t know for sure Why the Smo Kably form of cocaine also known As Rock cocaine had been so scarce Here but one theory is that local drug Kingpins kept it out of the area be cause they feared it would Cut into their profitable trafficking in powder cocaine and heroin. Crack dealers have invaded other Urban centers by establishing footholds in outlying communities police say. Los Angeles Street gangs have introduced crack into Kansas City mo., min Neapolis and other midwestern cities and police arc checking reports that those gangs also May be involved in Chi Cago s suburbs. For years Chicago police have focused their drug activities on powder co Caine and heroin abuse. While other Cit ies reeled under soaring homicide rates. Chicago s homicide rate dropped to its lowest level in 20 years in 1988. Officials say the full extent of crack abuse in Chicago has not been deter mined. In a four month period ending in june police raided 20 crack houses said sgt Jim Brady. In suburban Harvey 539 drug arrests were made last year and police say 95 percent of the narcotics Trade there involves crack. In the stars and stripes 40 years ago today. Aug. 29, 1949 the air Force and Navy announced that beginning in octo Ber they would Start a Pilot Exchange program to allow for Cross training Between the services. 30 years ago today. Aug. 29, 1959 Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru said hundreds of communist chinese troops had attacked Indian Border guards and seized Indian territory along Tibet s Southern Border. 20 years ago today. Aug. 29, 1969 a District court judge denied the pleas of sen. Edward Mkennedy s attorney for full constitutional safeguards at the inquest into the death of Mary to Kopechne. 10 years ago today. Aug. 29, 1979 a three Day showdown Between the United states and the soviet Union ended when soviet Ballerina Ludmilla Vlasova announced that she would return Home without her husband Ballet dancer Alexander Godunov