WALLOPS ISLAND -- The launch of a Minotaur rocket carrying a military satellite from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport has been rescheduled for Tuesday, with a backup date of Wednesday. The launch window for both days is 7:35 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
The launch was originally set for May 5 and two additional attempts were made last Thursday and Friday, but bad weather and then a technical glitch with the flight termination system kept the rocket on the launch pad.
On Friday the launch was scrubbed at 10:43 p.m. with just two minutes left in the countdown.
Officials had to wait to set a new date until conflicts with range assets, including Monday's launch of the space shuttle, were resolved.
The 69-foot-tall rocket carries TacSat-3, a $60 million Air Force satellite that includes a hyperspectral imager designed to provide near real-time images to military personnel on the battlefield.
During its planned one-year mission in orbit 264 miles above Earth, the 880-pound satellite will be incorporated into military exercises to evaluate the potential of new technology designed to enable military personnel in a war theater to quickly obtain information and near real-time images about targets and battlefield conditions in their immediate vicinity.
Also on board is the Office of Naval Research's Satellite Communications Package and the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Avionics Experiment, along with PharmSat, a NASA experiment that could help scientists better understand how drugs work in space. Three 4-inch cube satellites, including one developed by Hawk Institute for Space Sciences in Pocomoke City, will be launched as secondary payloads.
The launch will be visible in the mid-Atlantic region. The NASA Visitor Center on Route 175 and the beach at Assateague National Seashore will be open to view the launch.
Updates will be posted before the countdown begins on NASA's Web site, www.nasa.gov/centers/ wallops/missions/ tacsat3.html.
Updates also will be provided by telephone on the Wallops launch status line at 757-824-2050.
Radio station 760 AM, which has a range of about five miles from the NASA Visitor Center, also will have updates.
The status also will be available during the countdown on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NASA_Wallops.
The launch will be Web cast at http://sites. wff.nasa.gov/webcast/.
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