Alice
01-17-2006, 02:47 PM
so today at work we were watching the live feed from the cape and after the first attempt for launch we knew it wasn't gonna happen (cause stuff like this happens all the time) they'll try again tomorrow and of course all us nasa dorks will be there to watch it :lol:
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 4:17 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2006
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With less than three minutes left in the countdown, high winds forced NASA to call off Tuesday's launch of a probe destined to visit Pluto.
The start of the New Horizons spacecraft's nine-year odyssey to the solar system's last unexplored planet was put off for a day. Wednesday's launch window extends from 1:16 to 3:15 p.m. ET, but the weather outlook is slightly worse. The forecast held a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms, clouds and gusty winds that could force yet another postponement.
Tuesday's attempt was scrubbed after a series of delays.
Throughout the day, wind levels at the Florida launch pad were near the 38 mph (33-knot) limit for launch — at one point leading controllers to upload new software aimed at compensating. NASA also had to deal with 11th-hour concerns about a rocket valve and a snag involving a tracking station in Antigua.
Eventually, the launch time was reset for 3:23 p.m. ET, at the very end of Tuesday's two-hour launch window. But soon after the countdown came out of its last hold, high winds forced a "no-go" condition, and the launch was called off for the day.
“The winds picked up sooner than expected,” said Richard Binzel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the mission’s investigators. “Blame the meteorologists.”
NASA still has nearly a month's worth of launch opportunities ahead. But if the probe can't be launched by Feb. 14, the mission would have to be put off for a year — and New Horizons wouldn't arrive at Pluto until 2019 at the earliest.
story continues here (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10878811/)
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 4:17 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2006
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - With less than three minutes left in the countdown, high winds forced NASA to call off Tuesday's launch of a probe destined to visit Pluto.
The start of the New Horizons spacecraft's nine-year odyssey to the solar system's last unexplored planet was put off for a day. Wednesday's launch window extends from 1:16 to 3:15 p.m. ET, but the weather outlook is slightly worse. The forecast held a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms, clouds and gusty winds that could force yet another postponement.
Tuesday's attempt was scrubbed after a series of delays.
Throughout the day, wind levels at the Florida launch pad were near the 38 mph (33-knot) limit for launch — at one point leading controllers to upload new software aimed at compensating. NASA also had to deal with 11th-hour concerns about a rocket valve and a snag involving a tracking station in Antigua.
Eventually, the launch time was reset for 3:23 p.m. ET, at the very end of Tuesday's two-hour launch window. But soon after the countdown came out of its last hold, high winds forced a "no-go" condition, and the launch was called off for the day.
“The winds picked up sooner than expected,” said Richard Binzel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the mission’s investigators. “Blame the meteorologists.”
NASA still has nearly a month's worth of launch opportunities ahead. But if the probe can't be launched by Feb. 14, the mission would have to be put off for a year — and New Horizons wouldn't arrive at Pluto until 2019 at the earliest.
story continues here (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10878811/)