Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Engineers Try to Put Satellite in Safe Orbit

Engineers at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., radioed commands to a stranded $150-million communications satellite to fire on-board rockets in a bid to boost the errant relay station into a higher, long-term storage orbit. If all goes well, it will reach a safe orbit sometime today, preventing an inadvertent re-entry into the atmosphere and providing plenty of time to devise a rescue plan. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration indicated that it would consider a rescue by a space shuttle if the satellite reaches a safe orbit. The Intelsat 6 satellite was stranded in a useless, lopsided orbit when it failed to separate properly from its Titan 3 booster.