Weather delays MESSENGER launch
Posted: Mon, Aug 2, 2004, 8:12 AM ET (1212 GMT)
The launch of NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury was delayed by 24 hours early Monday because of weather. The spacecraft was scheduled to lift off atop a Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral at 2:16 am EDT (0616 GMT), but the launch was scrubbed because of the potential of lightning from clouds in the area associated with a tropical storm. The launch has been rescheduled for the same time Tuesday; the forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather. MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space, Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging) is NASA's first Mercury orbiter mission and only the second spacecraft to travel to the planet. MESSENGER will enter orbit around the innermost planet in March 2011 after several flybys of the Earth and Venus as well as Mercury.
The launch of NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury was delayed by 24 hours early Monday because of weather. The spacecraft was scheduled to lift off atop a Delta 2 from Cape Canaveral at 2:16 am EDT (0616 GMT), but the launch was scrubbed because of the potential of lightning from clouds in the area associated with a tropical storm. The launch has been rescheduled for the same time Tuesday; the forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather. MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space, Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging) is NASA's first Mercury orbiter mission and only the second spacecraft to travel to the planet. MESSENGER will enter orbit around the innermost planet in March 2011 after several flybys of the Earth and Venus as well as Mercury.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Wednesday, August 12
Firefly Now Targeting Next Alpha Flight By Year’s End
Aviation Week — 4:54 am ET (0854 GMT) 'Russian Starlink' Is Fast Becoming A Reality, There's Just One Problem For The Kremlin
Radio Free Europe — 4:52 am ET (0852 GMT) Firefly Aerospace Announces Extension of Multi-Launch Agreement with Lockheed Martin Through 2031
Firefly Aerospace — 4:50 am ET (0850 GMT) Firefly’s SciTec Awarded $94 Million U.S. Space Force Contract to Advance Ground-Based Radar Digitization Program
Firefly Aerospace — 4:49 am ET (0849 GMT) Registration Now Open for Spacepower Conference 2026
EINPresswire.com — 4:49 am ET (0849 GMT) |
