Posted: Tue, Jun 17, 2003, 8:59 AM ET (1259 GMT)
Weather problems have pushed back next week's scheduled launch of NASA's second Mars Exploration Rover by a day, space agency officials announced Monday. The rover Opportunity, formerly known as MER-B, will now launch on June 26 at either 12:27 am or 1:08 am EDT (0427 or 0508 GMT). The launch had been scheduled for June 25 but was delayed because poor weather last week delayed launch preparations, including mounting the payload on top of its Delta 2 booster. Opportunity is a twin to Spirit, the Mars rover successfully launched June 10. Because Opportunity is launching later in the launch window for missions to Mars, it will fly on the first launch of the more powerful Delta 2 Heavy, a Delta 2 that uses the larger GEM 46 strap-on boosters developed for the Delta 3. Opportunity is scheduled to land on Mars on January 25, 2004.
