spacetoday.net: Winds delay Titan 2 launch

Posted: Sun, Jan 5, 2003, 3:00 PM ET (2000 GMT)
Coriolis spacecraft illustration (Spectrum Astro)

Gusty upper-level winds delayed the launch early Sunday of a Titan 2 rocket carrying a military research satellite. The Titan 2 was scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 9:18 am EST (1418 GMT), but the launch was scrubbed several minutes before liftoff when upper-level winds failed to subside from unacceptably-high levels. The launch has been rescheduled for Monday at the same time. Four launch attempts last month were scrubbed because of poor weather and technical glitches. The booster is carrying Coriolis, a spacecraft that carries a Navy instrument for measuring ocean surface wind conditions and an Air Force imager that would provide advance notice of geomagnetic storms caused by solar activity.