350 LAUNCHES AND COUNTING FOR FAMILY OF DELTA ROCKETS - There was a sentimental blastoff from California on Friday night as the venerable Delta 2 made its one-and-only flight of the year, chalking up a major milestone for the rocket family's lasting legacy while also finishing deployment of Italy's radar satellite quartet that image the world for peace and security. It's the last commercial mission currently booked for the Delta 2 rocket, which faces an uncertain future in the years ahead. Three launches carrying satellites for NASA will occur in 2011, but whether the program continues beyond next year depends whether five additional vehicles in the inventory can be sold. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 6)
NO LAUNCH ATTEMPT FOR DISCOVERY UNTIL END NOVEMBER: NASA - NASA will not attempt to launch the space shuttle Discovery until the end of this month after a hydrogen leak was found in the external fuel tank Friday, the US space agency said. "The launch is postponed until November 30 to give more time to fix the leak," said spokesman Allard Beutel. The shuttle mission has already been delayed five times due to weather and electrical problems. More (Source: AFP - Nov 5)
LAUNCH SCRUBBED DUE TO HYDROGEN LEAK AT GROUND UMBILICAL CARRIER PLATE - Space shuttle managers have scrubbed Discovery’s launch attempt for today due to a hydrogen leak at the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate, or GUCP (pronounced GUP). The next launch attempt would be no earlier than Monday. During the process of filling the external tank, the hydrogen leak was detected at the GUCP, an attachment point between the external tank and a 17-inch pipe that carries gaseous hydrogen safely away from Discovery to the flare stack, where it is burned off. More (Source: NASA - Nov 5)
WEATHER FORECAST FRIDAY: 60 PERCENT "GO" - The shuttle weather team is calling for a 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions for space shuttle Discovery on Friday. They are watching for high winds in the wake of a cold front moving through Central Florida. Discovery is on Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Friday's launch time is 3:04 p.m. EDT. There are no scheduled STS-133 news conferences on NASA Television today and no planned Space Shuttle Program Mission Management Team meetings today. The shuttle team will convene at 5 a.m. Friday to assess the weather before giving a “go" or "no-go” decision to fill Discovery’s external tank. More (Source: NASA - Nov 5)
WEATHER DELAYS THURSDAY'S LAUNCH ATTEMPT FOR SHUTTLE DISCOVERY - NASA has delayed today's scheduled launch of space shuttle Discovery, due to rain showers and low clouds expected at launch time. Discovery was set to launch on its final mission at 3:39 p.m. Thursday, but weather forecasts called for multiple weather violations during that time. "Our team was prepared and ready to execute tanking this morning," said Pete Nickolenko, the assistant launch director. "Our tanking weather would have been acceptable, however the launch forecast continues to be poor More (Source: Central Florida News - Nov 4)
DELTA II WITH COSMO-4 SUFFERS THIRD SCRUB IN A ROW - The Delta II’s final scheduled commercial launch is struggling to get off the ground, after scrubbing for the third time in a row on Tuesday night. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) vehicle is aiming to loft COSMO-4 - the fourth and last COSMO-SkyMed radar imaging satellite – into orbit for the Italian government from Space Launch Complex 2W at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. The mission – re-arranged to Thursday at 7:20pm PDT – will mark the 350th launch of a Delta rocket. More (Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Nov 3)
MMT TO MEET WEDNESDAY ON ELECTRICAL ISSUES - The Prelaunch Mission Management Team wants to give engineers more time to look deeply into two electrical issues from a main engine computer controller that cropped up this morning. Therefore, the launch of space shuttle Discovery on STS-133 has been delayed until at least Thursday. Mike Moses, chair of the MMT, said the problems are believed to be tied to a circuit breaker in the shuttle's cockpit. More (Source: NASA - Nov 3)
CALIF. ROCKET LAUNCH DELAYED FOR TECHNICAL TROUBLE - Air Force officials say a California launch has been postponed for a satellite that scientists and the military will use for observation of Earth. Vandenberg Air Force Base spokesman Jeremy Eggers says the Delta II rocket scheduled for takeoff from the base Sunday night will be delayed until Monday. A statement from the United Launch Alliance says that after countdown began a heater designed to keep one of the rocket's engine components warm during fueling didn't work properly and forced the delay. More (Source: San Jose Mercury News - Nov 2)
CHINA LAUNCHES SIXTH SATELLITE ORBITER - China on Monday successfully launched its sixth orbiter which will form part of its indigenous satellite navigation and positioning network. A Long March-3C carrier rocket carrying the "Beidou," or Compass navigation satellite took off at 0:26 am today from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. More (Source: Times of India - Nov 2)
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