NASA Postpones Launch Of Glory Mission
WASHINGTON -- The launch of NASA's Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been postponed at least 24 hours.During the final 15 minutes before Wednesday's scheduled launch of 5:09 a.m. EST, the vehicle interface control console, a ground interface with Orbital Sciences' Taurus XL rocket, gave an unexpected reading. The cause and potential effect of the reading was not fully understood. With a 48-second available launch window, there was insufficient time to analyze the issue causing the launch to be postponed. Members of the Taurus team are troubleshooting the issue.
The next launch attempt is no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 24, at 5:09
a.m. EST. NASA Television's coverage of the launch will begin at 3:30
a.m. EST.
Data to be collected by Glory will help scientists improve our ability
to predict Earth's future environment and to distinguish
human-induced climate change from natural climate variability.
The Glory mission is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md., for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. Launch management is provided by NASA's Launch Services
Program at Kennedy. Orbital Sciences Corp., which provided the Taurus
XL rocket, is responsible for Glory's spacecraft design, manufacture,
payload integration and testing, as well as spacecraft operations.
For more information about NASA's Glory mission, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/glory
For NASA TV downlink, schedule and streaming video information, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Source: NASA
