AEROSPACE

Intelsat, Martin Marietta Settle Satellite Suit: Intelsat and Martin Marietta have reached a tentative settlement of lawsuits connected with a communications satellite that had to be rescued by space shuttle astronauts after it was stranded in low orbit. In a joint announcement, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, based in Washington, and Martin Marietta, of Bethesda, Md., said they had negotiated terms to settle their litigation. The lawsuits arose out of the 1990 launch of Intelsat 603, a $157-million satellite that became trapped in a low and useless orbit after a failure in its Martin Marietta rocket launcher. In May, 1992, spacewalking NASA astronauts captured the satellite and attached to it a new rocket booster package. The satellite then fired itself into its proper orbit, 22,300 miles above Earth.