The flight had been targeted for August15, although Boeing was looking into flying as early as August 13, pending the completion of ongoing upgrades to Cape Canaveral Air Station's launch support facilities.

The rocket is to deliver into orbit the next four satellites of the Globalstar mobile communications network. However, the Delta 2 rocket now is not expected to fly until August 17 to allow time for technicians to swap out one of the four 42.5-foot tall, 3.3-foot diameter boosters that are strapped around the outside of the rocket.

The scrape marks do not appear to be anything significant, but Boeing spokeswoman Erin Lutz said officials decided to make a switch "just to be sure."

A Delta 2 rocket exploded during launch in 1997 due to a ruptured solid rocket motor casing, which was later determined to have been damaged in preflight processing.