The planned launch of an Atlas V rocket and a new military communications satellite came amid a trio of troubles that cropped up in short order after fuel-loading operations began at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The 19-story rocket and its payload -- a Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft -- had been scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at 9:24 p.m. The weather appeared as if it would be good to go.
Two minor valve problems were overcome early in the launch countdown. But then problems cropped up with the rocket's flight control system and a liquid oxygen valve on the rocket's Centaur upper stage.
The Eastern Range also was "no-go" because one of two required instruments that verify command destruct signals have been properly encoded failed a routine countdown test.
Engineers started pumping supercold liquid oxygen -- which is Minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit -- into the Centaur upper stage of the rocket about 7:30 p.m.
They were preparing to load liquid hydrogen -- which is Minus 423 degrees -- into Centaur tanks. But temperatures on a liquid hydrogen pump on the Centaur stage dropped below limits.
Separate anomaly teams were investogationg the flight control system failure and the problem of the hydrogen pump when the liquid oxygen valve started leaking at a rate that forced an immediate scrub.
No new launch date has been set. The next opportunity would be Wednesday night during a launch window that would stretch from 9:24 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The rocket is being detanked at this time, and there's no word on how long the problems might take to resolve.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
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