Lightning Destroys 3 Rockets
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United Press International
WASHINGTON — Multiple lightning strikes destroyed three small NASA rockets awaiting launch from Wallops Island, Va., and also damaged the nation’s main weather satellite ground station, officials said today.
The rockets were to study thunderstorm effects before their destruction in a coastal storm Tuesday night. Officials from the space agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said no one was injured, but up to nine hours of weather data was lost from the two GOES satellites that monitor weather from 22,300-mile-high orbits.
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