Technical glitch scrubs Atlas 5 launch
Updated: Tue, May 13, 2003, 8:43 AM ET (1243 GMT) Originally Posted: Mon, May 12, 2003, 6:30 PM ET (2230 GMT) A technical problem has postponed Monday's launch of an Atlas 5 rocket carrying a Greek communications satellite for 24 hours. The Atlas 5 401 was scheduled to lift off Monday afternoon at 5:57 pm EDT (2157 GMT) from Cape Canaveral. However, a problem with the avionics in the Centaur upper stage of the Atlas led to a launch scrub announced early Monday afternoon. The Atlas 5, which had been rolled out to the launch pad from the vehicle integration building Monday morning, was rolled back Monday afternoon to allow engineers to study the problem in more detail. International Launch Services announced late Monday that the launch had been rescheduled for the same time on Tuesday. The launch will be only the second for the Atlas 5, after a successful inaugural launch last August. The booster is carrying Hellas Sat, a communications satellite that is expected to be extensively used during the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
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