spacetoday.net: Antares, Falcon launches slip

Posted: Sun, Sep 15, 2013, 12:19 PM ET (1619 GMT)
Antares on pad before COTS demo launch (Orbital Sciences Corp.)

The first launch of a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on an Antares rocket has been delayed a day because of a technical issue, while the first launch of an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 will be delayed until the end of this month. Orbital Sciences announced Saturday morning that they had delayed the launch of their first Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from Tuesday to Wednesday. A faulty cable between the rocket and ground equipment was detected in a test Friday night on the launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, and was scheduled to be replaced Saturday. SpaceX, meanwhile, has postponed their launch, planned for Sunday of Canada's CASSIOPE satellite on a Falcon 9 v1.1 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Unspecified anomalies were detected during a hot fire test on the pad Thursday. Work to address those, plus scheduled missile tests at Vandenberg, will likely delay the launch until September 29 or 30, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted early Sunday.