Posted: Mon, Apr 4, 2005, 8:13 AM ET (1213 GMT)
NASA has rescheduled the launch of the long-delayed DART spacecraft for April 15, the space agency announced Friday. The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology spacecraft will launch from a Pegasus XL off the coast from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, project officials said. The launch has been scheduled for last fall, but was postponed for several months after engineers found that the spacecraft would be exposed to forces during the flight that were greater than previously expected. DART is an experimental spacecraft designed to test technologies that would permit spacecraft to approach other spacecraft without human intervention. During DART's 24-hour mission the spacecraft will rendezvous with MUBLCOM, an experimental military communications satellite that has been in orbit for several years.

Related Links:

•  AP article
•  Huntsville Times article
•  New Scientist article