Posted: Thu, Oct 16, 2003, 6:32 PM ET (2232 GMT)
A technical problem with a Titan2 booster has delayed its launch until at least Saturday. The Titan 2 was scheduled to launch Thursday morning from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but the launch was scrubbed about 90 minutes before liftoff after controllers detected a problem with the booster's inertial measurement unit, a guidance computer. A final decision on a new launch date for the booster is scheduled for Friday. The Titan 2 is carrying the DMSP F16 polar-orbiting weather satellite. The launch was first scheduled for early 2001, but has been delayed several times because of spacecraft and launch vehicle problems; a launch attempt Wednesday was scrubbed when a problem with an air conditioning duct caused launch preparations to run behind schedule. The launch will be the last for the Titan 2, a former ICBM that was refurbished into a launch vehicle 15 years ago, after serving as a launcher for NASA’s Gemini program in the 1960s.

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