Lack Of Refueling Aircraft Causes Latest Delay

After scrubbing the mission at the last minute (actually, within the last minute) Friday due to a communications glitch, NASA's planned launch early Saturday of the CloudSat and CALIPSO satellites was bumped yet again -- this time because a refueling plane for the C-130 radar tracking aircraft was unavailable.

The CALIPSO (it stands for Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) and CloudSat satellites are now set to launch at 6:02 am EDT Sunday morning on missions to study clouds and aerosols, tiny particles in the air.

As Aero-News reported Friday, the initial launch attempt from Space Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA was scrubbed at T-48 seconds due to loss of the primary and backup phone communications between the Mission Director Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) Space Command in Toulouse, France.

NASA reports CALIPSO and CloudSat (pictured at right) are flying into space aboard the swift and dependable Boeing Delta II rocket. With more than 300 successful flights, the dual-stage Delta II is NASA's medium-size payload specialist.

FMI: www.nasa.gov