Launch Dates Shift for Missions to Several Space Missions

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. ? The launch dates for a NASA planet-hunter, a moon-mapper, a shuttle mission to the International Space Station and an advanced military communications satellite all are changing ? and all for different reasons.

A launch failure on the West Coast, minor trouble with a spacecraft heater, tightly timed launch windows and ongoing engineering analyses of suspect shuttle main propulsion system valves all have been factors in a fluid schedule for upcoming launches from the Space Coast.

Here?s a look at the newly set launch dates:

• Next Friday: A United Launch Alliance Delta 2 rocket is slated to blast off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, hauling up NASA?s Kepler spacecraft ? a robotic scout that will look for Earth-like planets in other solar systems.
• Launch windows: 10:49 through 10:52 p.m. and 11:13 through 11:16 p.m. EST

The launch had been set for Thursday.

NASA pushed it back to give engineers time to check common hardware between the Delta 2 and a Taurus XL rocket that failed to deliver a NASA atmospheric sciences satellite to orbit earlier this week.

• March 13: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled to loft a next-generation military communications satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
• Launch window: 9:25 p.m. to 10:07 p.m.

The launch had been set for March 9 but was delayed so engineers could repair and retest a faulty heater circuit on the spacecraft.

NASA earlier this week set March 12 as a tentative launch date for shuttle Discovery on a station assembly mission. But the agency has yet to book the date on the Air Force Eastern Range.

The Eastern Range provides tracking, range safety, weather forecasting and launch scheduling services for all missions from Florida?s Space Coast.

Launch of the Atlas 5 and the military communications satellite would have to be delayed for Discovery to fly March 12. It typically takes two days to reset range systems between launches of different vehicles.

• May 20: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with NASA?s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.
• Launch window: To be determined.

The launch had been set for April 24 but was pushed due to a delay in the March Atlas 5 launch with the military satellite as well as the timing required for launch of the lunar mission.

The launch must be timed to put both the lunar orbiter and its companion spacecraft on the proper course to achieve science objectives. Two- to three-day launch opportunities come up about every two weeks.

NASA considered trying to launch the moon mission during a window between May 7 and May 9 but decided Atlas V turnaround operations would make the schedule too tight. The next window opens May 20 and closes May 23.

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