Posted: Tue, Mar 31, 2009, 8:31 AM ET (1231 GMT)
The launch a military communications satellite on an Atlas 5 has been rescheduled for Friday after engineers replaced a leaking valve in the rocket's upper stage. The Atlas 5 is now scheduled for launch at 8:31 pm EDT Friday (0031 GMT Saturday) from Cape Canaveral to place the Wideband Global Satcom SV-2 spacecraft into GEO. The launch had been scheduled for March 17 but was scrubbed after a liquid oxygen leak was detected in the rocket's Centaur upper stage. The leak was traced to a faulty valve, which was replaced. The exact cause of the leak has not been determined.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Florida Today article