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NASA announced Tuesday that the launch of the satellite aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket would not go as planned on Friday.
The $ 252 million scientific mission was launched Friday at 4:05 am (EDT) by a carrier aircraft, but NASA announced Tuesday that the mission has decided to postpone the flight. "to perform new pre-launch tests of the rocket".
The space agency said in a brief statement that a new launch date would be set at the end of the tests. No additional information has been published by NASA or Northrop Grumman.
The Pegasus XL rocket, in three stages and 17 meters long, arrived Friday night on the Skid Strip runway of the Cape Canaveral Air Force base after a ferry flight through the belly of its aircraft carrier L- 1011 from Vandenberg Air. Force Base, California.
Ground crews at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, formerly Orbital ATK, prepared the Pegasus solid fuel rocket and its satellite payload at Building 1555 in Vandenberg, and then landed the vehicle at an aerodrome to connect it to the aircraft. -1011, christened "Stargazer. "
The L-1011's flight crew sailed into the Pegasus rocket "drop box" at an altitude of 39,000 feet (11,900 meters) about 80 km east of Daytona Beach before landing at the skid track. The training session aimed to familiarize the pilots with the drop zone and to check the compatibility of the Pegasus rocket with the US Air Force fire safety systems at Cape Canaveral.
Activities scheduled for the last week before Friday's launch included a rehearsal launch, additional range compatibility checks, inspections, and the final closure of the rocket.
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