Atlas V Rolling Back From Pad After Scrub

Jefferson Morris jeff_morris@AviationWeek.com

United Launch Alliance is rolling the Atlas V rocket carrying the U.S. Air Force's second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS-2) spacecraft back from Launch Complex 41 to its integration building at Cape Canaveral this afternoon, where technicians will attempt to determine the cause of the upper-stage liquid oxygen leak that resulted in the scrubbing of Tuesday night's launch attempt.

The oxidizer valve leak was discovered during fueling of the Centaur upper stage at about 7:45 p.m. EDT, in preparation for a 9:24 p.m. EDT launch. Liftoff of WGS-2 already had been postponed from Saturday, to deconflict with Sunday's liftoff of space shuttle Discovery.

Once the Atlas V arrives back at the 30-story Vehicle Integration Facility (VIF), "hopefully we can do anything we need to do there in the VIF," ULA spokesman Mike Rein said. He doesn't expect that the rocket will have to be destacked to diagnose and solve the problem.

Once the leak is taken care of, ULA will request a new launch date from Eastern Range officials. Even in a best-case scenario, it appears unlikely the flight will be able to try again before the end of the month, due to the upcoming March 24 launch of the Global Positioning System IIR-20 satellite aboard a Delta II, as well as Discovery's scheduled landing at Kennedy Space Center March 28. The Air Force has said it definitely cannot attempt another launch before the GPS flight.

If WGS-2 tries to go after the shuttle, the earliest possible date would be March 30, Rein said, since range officials need about a day of turnaround after a shuttle landing before another flight.

File photo of Atlas V: USAF