NASA Postpones Phoenix Launch

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Friday's launch of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket has been postponed 24 hours. The two available launch times on Saturday, Aug. 4, are 2:26:34 and 3:02:59 a.m. Pacific Time (5:26:34 a.m. and 6:02:59 a.m. Eastern Time).

Due to a forecast for severe weather around the Kennedy Space Center launch pad on Tuesday afternoon, fueling of the second stage will not be completed Tuesday afternoon. While this is expected to be done Wednesday morning, there is insufficient contingency time in the schedule to move forward with the planned Friday launch.

The pre-launch news conference has been rescheduled to Thursday, Aug. 2, at 11 a.m. Pacific Time (2 p.m. Eastern Time) at the NASA press site at Kennedy Space Center. All other planned events for the news media will occur at the same times 24 hours later. NASA TV and Web coverage for launch will begin at 12:30 a.m. Pacific Time (3:30 a.m. Eastern Time) on Saturday. For more information about NASA TV, streaming video, and downlink and schedule information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Additional information on Phoenix is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix or http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu .

NEWS RELEASE: 2007-083