NASA's Glory spacecraft is scheduled for launch on Friday, March 4. Technical issues with ground support equipment for the Taurus XL launch vehicle led to the scrub of the original Feb. 23 launch attempt. Those issues have been resolved.
NASA has scheduled the launch of its Glory mission for March 4.
Glory was set to launch February 23 in order to gather more data about sun- and climate-influencing particles called aerosols. That was delayed, however, because technicians needed time to troubleshoot a malfunction in ground support equipment associated with the Taurus XL rocket. Those issues have since been resolved, NASA said this week.
The liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is now set for 5:09a.m. Eastern on Friday. There is a 48-second launch window; the spacecraft will separate from the launch vehicle 13 minutes after liftoff.
Coverage of the countdown on the Glory launch blog and NASA TV will begin at 3:30am on Friday. You can also follow along via NASA's Twitter feed.
Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate, NASA said. These aerosols and solar energy influence how much energy enters and exits the Earth's atmosphere. The Glory mission is intended to provide an accurate measurement of this energy in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how they may affect human life.
It's been a busy few weeks for NASA. On Thursday, the Discovery space shuttle launched in Florida. The vehicle took off at 4:53pm and made it to the International Space Station on Saturday. Astronauts have since completed two spacewalks.
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