spacetoday.net: Another weather delay for CloudSat/CALIPSO

Posted: Wed, Apr 26, 2006, 1:45 PM ET (1745 GMT)
CloudSat and CALIPSO illustration (NASA)

The launch of two Earth-observing spacecraft was delayed yet again Wednesday because of poor weather. The launch of the CloudSat and CALIPSO spacecraft on a Delta 2 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was postponed early Wednesday because of thick clouds at the launch site. The launch has been rescheduled for 6:02 am EDT (1002 GMT) Thursday; forecasts call for an 80 percent chance of acceptable weather. Wednesday's scrub was the latest in a long string of delays. Tuesday's launch was postponed because of high winds, and previous launch attempts were scrubbed by communications glitches and unavailability of tracking aircraft. The two spacecraft are designed to study the role of clouds in shaping the planet's climate. CALIPSO, a joint project of NASA and the French space agency CNES, carries a lidar and camera to study clouds and aerosols in the atmosphere; CloudSat has a radar designed to provide a three-dimensional map of cloud cover.