NATION : Atlas Blastoff Delayed 3rd Time
The launch of an Atlas 1 rocket carrying a $189-million science satellite to study Earth’s invisible magnetic field has been postponed again until Wednesday, officials said today.
General Dynamics Corp., the rocket’s builder, had hoped to launch the rocket this afternoon but delayed the launch until 3:21 p.m. EDT Wednesday at the earliest while engineers replace a faulty switch, a NASA spokeswoman said.
“The earliest possible with doing the hardware work moves them into no earlier than Wednesday,” said NASA spokeswoman Pat Phillips.
The launch was postponed for the third time in four days Monday just four minutes before the scheduled blastoff when engineers could not switch on the rocket’s internal power.
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