The Nation - News from Nov. 28, 1988

Rocket engineers at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., began the shuttle Atlantis’ countdown to blastoff Thursday on a military flight reportedly intended to place a top-secret spy satellite in orbit. The clock began ticking at 12:01 a.m. EST as test director Jerry Crute issued the “call to stations” that summoned more than 100 controllers to their computer consoles in the launch control center 4 miles from the launch pad. The call also signaled workers to begin servicing the main engines and removing work platforms from around the base of the spaceship. Officials are disclosing few details of the classified flight, but the payload is believed to be a spy satellite to be trained on the Soviet Union.