European Cargo Spacecraft Launch Delay Not Affecting STS-133 Yet

This afternoon’s scheduled launch of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) “Johannes Kepler” from Kourou, French Guiana was scrubbed. A preliminary assessment indicates there may have been erroneous data on the flow of fuel through the manifolds on the first stage of the Ariane 5 rocket that resulted in the scrub. ESA engineers and managers will evaluate the issue before officially rescheduling the launch. NASA Television coverage Wednesday would begin at 4:30 p.m. EST for a liftoff at 4:50:55 p.m. While there is the potential for an ATV launch slip to affect next week’s targeted launch date of space shuttle Discovery, today’s scrub does not automatically impact the STS-133 mission. If ATV-2 launches Wednesday, then Discovery’s target date would move to Feb. 25. However, a longer ATV slip beyond Friday would result in STS-133 remaining on track for its targeted launch on Feb. 24 at 4:50 p.m. EST.

This article was sponsored by Forensic Science Books.