Posted: Mon, Dec 16, 2002, 8:43 AM ET (1343 GMT)
The launch of a military research spacecraft on a Titan 2 booster has been delayed by poor weather and a technical problem. The Titan 2 was scheduled to lift off Sunday morning at 9:18 am EST (1418 GMT) to place the Coriolis spacecraft into Sun-synchronous orbit, but poor weather at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, coupled with a technical problem with a pyrotechnic system on the rocket, forced a 24-hour scrub. Early Monday morning the Air Force announced the launch would be delayed again because weather was forecast to be unacceptable for the launch. The launch has been pushed back to Tuesday, although weather is again forecast to be unfavorable. If the launch does not take place then, the launch may be delayed until no earlier than December 22, and perhaps until early January, to make way for a Delta 2 launch scheduled from Vandenberg for December 19. Coriolis is an Air Force spacecraft designed to test two instruments: a Navy microwave radiometer designed to measure ocean surface winds and an Air Force instrument that will monitor solar activity and its effect on the Earth's magnetosphere.

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