Tropical Storm Idalia delays national security Atlas 5 launch from Cape Canaveral

A tropical storm barreling towards the Florida peninsula caused United Launch Alliance (ULA) to stand down from an Atlas 5 launch planned for Tuesday. Meteorologists forecast Tropical Storm Idalia to become a major Category 3 Hurricane by the time it makes landfall on Wednesday. Late Monday evening, ULA announced it would roll the rocket back to the safety of the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) ahead of the storm “out of an abundance of caution for personnel safety” as well for the safety of “a critical national security payload.” More

(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 29)