spacetoday.net: Power failure delays NASA space science launch

Power failure delays NASA space science launch

Posted: Wed, Jun 26, 2013, 9:11 AM ET (1311 GMT)
The launch of a small NASA space science satellite has been postponed a day because of a power failure at the launch site. NASA had planned to launch the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) spacecraft Wednesday on a Pegasus XL, air-launched from an aircraft taking off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. However, a power failure at the base earlier in the week means that some facilities there will not be available to support the launch on Wednesday. NASA is now planning the launch for Thursday at 10:27 pm EDT (0227 GMT Friday). The spacecraft will study a region of the Sun's atmosphere that heats the solar corona to temperatures of millions of degrees.