NASA Moon Probe Launch Delayed for Military Payload

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WASHINGTON- NASA has delayed the launch of its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) aboarda United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from late this year until the end ofFebruary at the earliest to make way for a military payload slated to fly atopa similar vehicle.

"Becauseof high demand for Atlas 5 launches for the next 12 months, NASA has agreed toa request to exchange launch dates with another mission, allowing that missionto launch earlier," NASA spokeswoman Nancy Jones told Space News."The newLRO launch window now opens on the 27th of February 2009, and continuesthrough the end of March."

TheLRO had been onschedule for a late 2008 liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The missiondevelopment team at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md., willuse the additional time for more risk-reduction testing and to address anyproblems the spacecraft might encounter during environmental testing currentlyunder way, Jones said.

NASAofficials have been warning for months that a combination of zero scheduleslack and a busy end of the year at Cape Canaveral could push the LRO's launchinto 2009.

Brian Berger
Editor-in-Chief, SpaceNews

Brian Berger is the Editor-in-Chief of SpaceNews, a bi-weekly space industry news magazine, and SpaceNews.com. He joined SpaceNews covering NASA in 1998 and was named Senior Staff Writer in 2004 before becoming Deputy Editor in 2008. Brian's reporting on NASA's 2003 Columbia space shuttle accident and received the Communications Award from the National Space Club Huntsville Chapter in 2019. Brian received a bachelor's degree in magazine production and editing from Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism.