Pentagon officials were hopinga successful test would clear the way for President Clinton to decide bythis fall whether to deploy the estimated $60 billion National MissileDefense (NMD) program before 2005, a year by which some theorize the UnitedStates could be threatened by new nations packing nuclear missiles.

Instead, the results of Saturday's$100 million test marked the second failure in a row for the missile-defensesystem and gave critics of the effort new ammunition in their claims thatthe NMD is wasteful, not necessary and ineffective in its ability to protectAmericans from missile attacks.

Look here to see a video of a similar missile defense test flown onJan. 18, 2000.

Clearly disappointed in theevents as they unfolded overnight, Pentagon managers speaking to news mediaemphasized their resolve to determine what happened, correct the troubleand continue testing the technology.

"What it tells me is we havemore engineering work to do," said Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, director ofthe Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. "This is rocket science, andthings do happen on this stuff that is not expected."

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The test

Saturday's test began at12:18 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (04:18 GMT) with the launch of a modifiedMinuteman 2 missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

During this test, the Minuteman2 played the role of an "enemy" missile bearing down on an unsuspectingcountry. As part of the test, the Minuteman 2 was to deploy an inflatedmylar balloon that would act as decoy for the "kill vehicle" being sentto destroy the missile.

Launch of the target vehiclewas delayed more than two hours because of a battery problem with the Minuteman2 rocket that was solved by taking the time to recharge the battery.

Although Greenpeace activistssaid they intended to delay the test by positioning a boat in the launchdanger zone off the California coast, no such activity was reported asa concern by the Air Force and the Minuteman 2 lifted off without incident.

Once the solid-fueled missilecleared its launch silo, a suite of ground-based radars and space-basedsatellites quickly identified the missile as a potential "threat" and beganproviding the information necessary to put the "kill vehicle" on a collisioncourse with the Minuteman 2.

At 12:40 a.m. EDT (04:20GMT) another rocket took off, this time from the Kwajalein Atoll in theMarshall Islands. Its job would be to smash into the Minuteman 2 at a combinedspeed of some 15,000 m.p.h. (24,140 kilometers per hour), instantly destroyingthe target vehicle and preventing "mass destruction."

As the time for the interceptionpassed by, mission controllers looked in vain at TV monitors tracking theprogress of the kill vehicle and target and did not see the telltale signof a bright flash on the screens.

About an hour after the initialMinuteman 2 launch, Pentagon officials confirmed the test had failed andbegan pointing fingers at the kill vehicle's booster rocket, which accordingto an initial look at information radioed to the ground from the interceptorspacecraft revealed the kill vehicle had not separated from the rocket'ssecond stage.

"The failure was in the boostphase," Kadish said.

Apparently still attachedto the spent second stage, the interceptor continued radioing informationto mission controllers as it fell toward the Pacific Ocean and eventuallysmashed into the water.

Officials still were unsurewhy the spacecraft had not separated from the booster stage, noting thatthis particular rocket configuration -- based on Minuteman hardware --had worked perfectly during four previous flights and is scheduled to beused three more times.

After that, the booster willbe replaced during tests by the same type of rocket the Pentagon intendsto use if the National Missile Defense system is deployed across NorthAmerica.

The only other trouble notedfrom the failed test was with the Minuteman 2's mylar balloon decoy, whichdid not inflate as it was supposed to.

A chorus of criticism

The high-stakes demonstrationcame amid a rising chorus of criticism over the $60 billion program thatis designed to protect the United States from an attack by "rogue" nationslike North Korea and Iran.

Critics say if PresidentClinton decides to deploy the NMD, it would violate terms of the 1972 AntiballisticMissile Treaty and provoke a new arms race with China and Russia, bothof whom consider a U.S. missile "umbrella" to be a threat to their ownnational defenses.

In addition, the criticscontend that the missile tests, even if they do work, do not accuratelyreflect the real-life conditions that would be faced if the United Stateswere attacked.

"From a technical standpoint,this is another test of hit-to-kill. But it doesn't get at the issue ofwhether it can deal with realistic countermeasures from another country,"said Lisbeth Gronlund, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technologyand a senior staff scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

"The single decoy that youhave on this test is really nothing like what we think another countrymight do if it were to launch missiles at us," she said.

Writing the President

In a letter sent to ClintonThursday, a group of 50 Nobel laureates called the NMD a waste of moneyand harmful to U.S. interests.

The group, organized by theFederation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C., said that independentscientists contend foes could easily fool or overwhelm any such defensivemissile system.

The Nobel laureates alsonoted that North Korea recently has taken steps to improve its relationswith U.S. ally South Korea, further weakening the threat of a future nuclearattack from that nation.