The Athena rocket that will take the Prospector to space!
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Courtesy of NASA
Lunar Launch on Hold
News story originally written on January 6, 1998
The launch of the Lunar Prospector has been delayed. The spacecraft was suppose to be launched Monday evening aboard the Lockheed Martin Athena 2 rocket. The Air Force Range tracking radar which is needed to track the rocket experienced a pressure leak yesterday that prevented the launch.
NASA is hoping to launch the Prospector tonight at 9:28 p.m. EST. If for some reason launch is delayed once again, Prospector will have to wait until February 4, 1998 when the Earth and Moon return to an ideal alignment that occurs only two days per month.
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