Boeing

Clarence Quan, named the lead Boeing investigator for the Wednesday Delta III launch failure, arrived in Florida early this morning. Under his direction the investigation is continuing.

Boeing has requested U.S. Air Force support in surveying the area of impact for debris and has a salvage boat on call. While at this time there are no plans for underwater salvage, the investigation team will continue to assess that need as more information becomes available.

Boeing will host a media briefing at 2 p.m. EDT in the Enterprise Room, DoubleTree Hotel, (formerly Howard Johnson's), 2080 N. Atlantic Ave., Fla. (407) 783-9222. Quan will discuss the scope of his investigation. The call-in numbers for the media briefing are: Domestic (800) 210-9006; International (719) 457-2621. The access code for both numbers is 529-504.

Meanwhile at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the Delta II launch team has postponed by at least one week the launch of five Iridium system satellites for Motorola. That launch was scheduled for Sept. 1.

An audio playback of Thursday morning's press conference is available at (888) 203-1112; the access code is 528-886.