Glitches delay launch of next-generation weather satellite from Vandenberg
Tuesday’s early morning Delta II rocket launch was scrubbed minutes before blastoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base due to technical troubles and boats in the safety zone off the coast.
Mission managers tentatively planned to retry the launch of of the United Launch Alliance booster to carry a next-generation weather satellite from from Space Launch Complex-2 at 1:47 a.m. Wednesday.
The rescheduled attempt is pending resolution of a glitch, a red alarm from systems monitoring the rocket’s first stage, that prompted a crew member to call “hold, hold, hold” minutes before liftoff Tuesday.
A 66-second launch window to ensure the satellite reaches its proper place in space meant the crew had no time to fix the last-minute glitches and still attempt a liftoff Tuesday morning, NASA officials said.
The booster will carry the first in a series of four satellites for the Joint Polar Satellite System, JPSS-1, a new generation of weather satellites.
The spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace and involves a collaboration between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
This story was originally published November 14, 2017 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Glitches delay launch of next-generation weather satellite from Vandenberg."