WALLOPS ISLAND, VA – NASA has postponed the test flight of a Talos-Terrier-Oriole suborbital sounding rocket to September 6 between 7 and 10 a.m., from the agency’s launch range at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Originally scheduled for September 5, the launch has been postponed to allow for additional testing of the payload.
This will be the first flight of this launch vehicle which is being developed, using motors that currently exist in the sounding rocket fleet, to support high altitude space science research. This will be the first flight of the Oriole motor as a third stage for the NASA Sounding Rocket Program and the first flight of the Terrier as a second stage.
The 3-stage, 65-foot tall vehicle is projected to lift its 1,664 pound payload to approximately 176 miles above the Earth. After a 10 minute flight, the payload is expected land in the Atlantic Ocean about 300 miles off the Wallops Island coast. The payload will not be recovered.
The launch may be visible to observers on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the three lower counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and southern Delaware.
The NASA Visitor Center at the Wallops Flight Facility will open at 6 a.m. on launch day for public viewing.
Mission status on launch day also can be followed on Twitter and Facebook at: http://www.Twitter.com/NASA_Wallops https://www.facebook.com/NASAWFF
Mission status also is available on the Wallops launch status line at 757-824-2050.
More information on the mission is available at: www.nasa.gov/wallops
