The military payload could be detonated either on contact, or by a magnetic detonator.
The shuttle Atlantis will be carrying a secret military payload.
Columbia is now scheduled to carry a secret military payload aloft on July 1.
Then, the shuttles had a more central role in delivering payloads - commercial, scientific and military - into space than today.
The Atlantis is scheduled to carry a secret military payload into orbit.
The station's parts will have to fight for space with a backlog of other scientific and military payloads.
These experts argue that it would make more sense to launch military payloads on both shuttles and rockets.
The Atlas 5 is scheduled to begin lofting military payloads in 2005.
Two more shuttle flights are scheduled next year and both will carry military payloads.
A Titan 4, the nation's largest rocket, was launched here early today with a secret military payload.
