Thirty-eight Lockheed Martin Motorola Iridium worldwide mobile communications satellites are now in orbit after the launch of a Boeing Delta 2 on 26 September, carrying five satellites from Vandenberg AFB, California. The $2.6 billion Iridium system will be declared operational in 1998, when 66 satellites will be in orbit. Twenty satellites have been launched on four Delta 2s, and 14 craft have been carried on two Russian Proton boosters, seven being launched on 14 September. The first five Iridiums were launched on a Delta 2 launcher on 5 May.
Source: Flight International