A planned 11:13 p.m. Monday blastoff of a Delta IV rocket and Global Positioning System satellite was aborted with six seconds left in the countdown. The Air Force and United Launch Alliance said an anomaly with the steering system for one of the two solid rocket motors strapped to the rocket's first stage booster triggered an automatic shutdown.
It was the mission's third launch scrub in four days at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The launch has tentatively been rescheduled for 11 p.m. Thursday, the day after shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to return to Kennedy Space Center. The launch window would extend 19 minutes.
If weather delays Atlantis' landing, the GPS mission would be pushed back at least a day.
A launch attempt late this week would also mean that SpaceX is not going to try to launch its inaugural Falcon 9 flight on Friday. The Eastern Range approved that date, but the rocket's Flight Termination System remains under review and is not expected to be ready by then.
The first Delta IV launch attempt scrubbed last Friday when a land line sending telemetry signals between the GPS satellite and the Launch Control Center failed.
Another countdown began Sunday, but was halted when managers decided more time was needed to resolve the problem and adjust procedures so that the same issue wouldn't force a scrub.
Telemetry proved no issue Monday and the weather was excellent, but the new glitch cropped up seconds before main engine ignition and liftoff.
The satellite is the first in $1.6 billion program designed to maintain and improve the GPS constellation.
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