96 Astro hard starting

When starting the starter turns the motor over fine for the fisrst revolution and the it appears asif there is a huge drag. When it releases the motor starts. It seems to rum fine at this point. Battery is good and I tried a new started no difference.

Note I had the rotor off and there is only two way it fits back on. If I happened to make an errero would the vehicle start?

If you somehow inadvertently installed the rotor incorrectly, it would not only probably not start, but would likely break the rotor and/or distributor cap as well. If you removed the distributor cap completely when you removed the rotor, verify the spark plug wires are in the correct order. Since the distributor cap has some internal crossovers to route the wires to the appropriate sides of the engine, connecting the plug wires can be a little confusing.

I asume that if I crossed a wire that when it started that it would run rough, however once it starts it runs smooth and appears to be OK.
How do you time the 96s as the book I have seems to indicate that you can only time up to 95?
Would the there be an electric sensor that controls the timing when starting the vehicle?