NASA, ULA rocket launches shifting

The dates of several upcoming rocket launches from Cape Canaveral and California are in flux.

NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite is now scheduled to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California next Tuesday, a day later than previously planned.

Preparations for the spacecraft's connection to an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus XL rocket took slightly longer than expected. Liftoff is targeted at 4:51 a.m. EST.

The Air Force still hopes to launch a military communications satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41 in the second week of March, after repairs and retests of a faulty heater circuit on the spacecraft.

The launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket had been set for the evening of March 9, but any delays could push the liftoff close to the planned March 13 landing of shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center.

NASA is reviewing Discovery's readiness to launch Feb. 27 from KSC, and has scheduled a news conference no earlier than 5 p.m. Friday to update plans for the STS-119 mission to the International Space Station.

A significant slip by the Air Force satellite, known as the Wideband Global SATCOM, could impact NASA's planned April 24 launch from the Cape of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, also on an Atlas V.

NASA says "informal discussions" about the LRO launch date are taking place, but ULA has not formally requested a change.

Preparation of NASA's Kepler telescope, which will search for Earth-like planets, is proceeding on schedule for a March 5 launch atop a ULA Delta II from the Cape's Launch Complex 17B.

The spacecraft on Thursday is scheduled to be delivered to the launch pad for mating to the rocket.

Another Delta II mission targeted for March 24 also appears to be on schedule. The rocket will carry an Air Force Global Positioning System satellite from Launch Complex 17A.

IMAGE NOTE: Click to enlarge the image. On Feb. 9, the first half of the payload fairing is placed around NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory, or OCO, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. The spacecraft will collect precise global measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere. Scientists will analyze OCO data to improve our understanding of the natural processes and human activities that regulate the abundance and distribution of this important greenhouse gas. Photo credit: NASA/Robert Hargreaves Jr., VAFB.