Last week was a bad one to launch satellites into space. Boeing was forced to postpone the launch of its Delta III expendable launch vehicle on Tuesday due to heavy winds blowing inland, and an Air Force Titan IV rocket sent a satellite into the wrong orbit after lifting off on Friday.

Both launch programs suffered huge setbacks last summer. On its inaugural launch last summer, a Delta III rocket exploded in flight 70 seconds after takeoff. (See related story) The Titan IV exploded soon after liftoff last August in one of the most expensive launch disasters in history.

Delta III launch controllers last week feared winds might carry fuel and pieces of the rocket toward land if the rocket launch failed in its second attempt to make it into orbit.

Boeing says the launch team made three attempts during the Tuesday night window. Vehicle issues, which were resolved, caused the first two delays, and officials stopped the third attempt after the launch team ran out of time to test a repaired Air Force tracking radar.

This launch was originally scheduled for last Monday night, but was scrubbed and rescheduled for Tuesday. Boeing says it has fixed the problem that caused the Delta III to explode on its maiden flight by making a change to the system's operating rules.

A new launch date will have to be set, pending range availability. Boeing has 17 launch contracts for the Delta III rocket program.

The Delta III was to carry an Orion 3 communications satellite owned by Loral Space & Communications. The $230 million spacecraft will expand the C-band and Ku-band coverage area of Loral's satellite service fleet to include the entire Asia-Pacific region including Korea, China, Japan, Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Hawaii.

A few days later, a $250 million missile warning satellite was stranded in the wrong orbit after being launched Friday by the Air Force Titan rocket. Launch officials are scrambling to rescue the satellite. A failed mission will cost US taxpayers around $682 million after taking into consideration the cost of the rocket.

The Titan IV explosion last August resulted in a $1 billion loss.

Air Force officials say the satellite separated successfully from the upper-stage motor seven hours after Friday's liftoff but the satellite was discovered in an unusually high elliptical orbit later that night.

The motor on the Titan IV is built by Boeing, and the rocket is built by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed spent nearly $30 million on correcting the wiring problems that were responsible for the explosion last summer. The satellite on board, built by TRW, was to have joined other Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites in orbit 22,300 miles above the earth.