spacetoday.net: Minotaur launch delayed again

Posted: Sun, May 10, 2009, 11:30 AM ET (1530 GMT)
The launch of an experimental military satellite and a small NASA spacecraft have been pushed back until later this month after a launch attempt Friday night was scrubbed. The Minotaur 1 rocket was set to launch Friday night from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia after weather postponed launch attempts on Tuesday and Thursday. The launch was initially delayed Friday because of equipment problems, then halted in the final minutes of the countdown when controllers got a low voltage warning from the rocket's flight termination system. A new launch date will not be announced for several days, and the next attempt may not be until May 19. The primary payload on the Minotaur is TacSat-3, a 400-kilogram satellite designed to test responsive space technologies, including a hyperspectral imager. Flying as a secondary payload is PharmaSat, a 5-kilogram satellite built by NASA's Ames Research Center to study the growth of yeast cells in space and the effectiveness of antifungal drugs.