Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 23, 1990 TAG: 9007230062
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The first launch attempt, on Friday, was called off because of a helium leak, but the part that caused the problem has been replaced, officials said.
"There's nothing wrong with the vehicle. There's nothing wrong with the payload," NASA spokesman Bruce Buckingham said Sunday. "But the weather is just going to get worse and worse."
The launch was rescheduled for 3:26 p.m. today, but hopes were not high for a blastoff, because the weather outlook appeared to be about the same for today.
Friday's launch was called off less than an hour in advance after a liquid helium vent duct used for engine cooling somehow separated, said General Dynamics spokesman Jack Isabel. As a precaution, all four vent ducts were replaced Saturday with a new set, he said.
The Atlas 1 rocket, making its commercial debut, was to boost the Combined Release and Radiation Effects Satellite, or CRRES, into an elliptical orbit 217 miles by 22,236 miles high.
The $189 million satellite, a joint program of NASA and the Defense Department, holds 24 chemical-filled canisters that will be ejected at various altitudes over the next year. Once released, barium, lithium and other chemicals will be ionized by the sun's ultraviolet rays, creating glowing clouds about 60 miles in diameter.
The clouds will spread along Earth's magnetic field lines, allowing scientists to see the normally invisible charged particles of the ionosphere and magnetosphere.
by CNB