Mission Artwork
For the third time the United Launch Alliance has had to “scrub” their launch of their Delta IV rocket carrying the Air force’s “next generation of GPS Satellites”. On the first launch attempt (Friday, May 21) the problem was with the telemetry signal from the satellite. This time the problem was with the rocket.“During the final seconds of the launch countdown, an anomalous data signature with the thrust vector control system on one of the two solid rocket motors mounted to the Delta IV booster was detected.,” ULA & Air force said in a joint statement late Monday night. The TVCS (Thrust Vector Control System) is used to steer the rockets SRM’s (Solid Rocket Motors) during flight. If launched the rocket could have suffered near fatal damages.
The new launch attempt will have to wait until after Shuttle Atlantis’ landing, Wednesday morning at 08:48EDT. So Thursday is being targeted with the launch window being from 23:00 -23:19EDT
United Launch Alliance Delta 349 Launch Update Site - http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/pages/Launch.shtml#/8/
