11.   And as the first step, the agency decided last week to fund four competitors to develop a cheap way to launch small satellites.

12.   And Hughes itself was planning to launch three satellites in the next two years.

13.   Another U.S. company, DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., the former EarthWatch Inc., launched a satellite Thursday that has even higher resolution than the Ikonos.

14.   At least three American companies are launching private satellites with cameras that can see objects as small as three feet across.

15.   BellSouth signed a General Electric unit to launch a satellite that could deliver television not just to the Southeast but to the eastern half of the United States.

16.   Boeing also is a partner in Sea Launch, which will launch satellites into orbit beginning next year from a converted oil-drilling platform in the Pacific Ocean.

17.   Boeing will be responsible for designing, building and launching the satellites, said Roger Nyhus, a spokesman for Teledesic.

18.   Between them, the two competitors have launched five satellites into orbit above North America.

19.   Both contractors selected the same new rocket to launch their satellites, the Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle.

20.   A commercial program for launching foreign satellites is largely successful.