spacetoday.net: News briefs: October 16

Posted: Wed, Oct 17, 2001, 10:30 AM ET (1430 GMT)
Several building at the Kennedy Space Center were shut down Tuesday after several suspicious packages and traces of a white powder were discovered. At least eight people underwent medical exams, Florida Today reported, although there is no evidence the powder or packages contained traces of anthrax... As expected, NASA confirmed this week that they will not honor passes for the November 29 launch of the shuttle that would allow people to park their cars on a causeway near the launch site. Officials say they will keep the causeway closed as a security precaution. However, those who purchased a special pass through the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex will still be admitted as they will be bussed to the viewing site... The CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio, David Margolese, resigned Tuesday after the company announced that they would delay the launch of their satellite radio service until next year. Investment analysts expressed concern late last week that Sirius would not begin service at the end of this year as planned because of problems developing a chipset needed for the radio receivers. Sirius' main competitor, XM Satellite Radio, has already started service in some local markets and will launch nationwide next month... NASA has delayed the launch of a TDRS communications relay spacecraft indefinitely, Space News reported Tuesday. An Atlas 2 was scheduled to launch the TDRS spacecraft November 26 from Cape Canaveral, but NASA delayed the launch for unspecified reasons. A Lockheed Martin spokesperson told Space News that the delay was not related to any issues with the Atlas booster.