Atlas launch scrubbed
Posted: Tue, Dec 16, 2003, 9:55 AM ET (1455 GMT)
The launch of a military communications satellite on an Atlas 3B has been delayed two days because of a technical problem discovered Monday evening. The Atlas 3B was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Monday night, but a few hours before launch controllers found that the temperature of a liquid oxygen valve boltcutter had fallen below acceptable levels. Technicians are expected to replace the boltcutter with a spare; to provide time to accomplish that the launch has been rescheduled for approximately 9:30 pm EST Wednesday (0230 GMT Thursday). Weather could pose a problem for Wednesday's launch: forecasters are predicting only a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather, with winds the primary concern. The Atlas is carrying the US Navy's UHF Follow-On (UFO) F11 spacecraft, the last in this series of communications spacecraft
The launch of a military communications satellite on an Atlas 3B has been delayed two days because of a technical problem discovered Monday evening. The Atlas 3B was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Monday night, but a few hours before launch controllers found that the temperature of a liquid oxygen valve boltcutter had fallen below acceptable levels. Technicians are expected to replace the boltcutter with a spare; to provide time to accomplish that the launch has been rescheduled for approximately 9:30 pm EST Wednesday (0230 GMT Thursday). Weather could pose a problem for Wednesday's launch: forecasters are predicting only a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather, with winds the primary concern. The Atlas is carrying the US Navy's UHF Follow-On (UFO) F11 spacecraft, the last in this series of communications spacecraft
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