NASA'S Glory Satellite Fails To Reach Orbit

NASA - Glory Mission patch.

March 4, 2011

NASA's Glory spacecraft launched aboard a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California Friday at 5:09:45 a.m. EST failed to reach orbit.

Taurus XL rocket, ready for launch

Telemetry indicated the fairing, the protective shell atop the Taurus XL rocket, did not separate as expected about three minutes after launch.

Image above: The Taurus XL rocket launches from Space Launch Complex 576-E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Image credit: NASA TV.

A press briefing to discuss the Glory launch failure is planned at Vandenberg for approximately 8:00 a.m. EST. NASA TV will carry the press conference live.

The new Earth-observing satellite was intended to improve our understanding of how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate.

Taurus XL Launch

 

Project management for Glory is the responsibility of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is the launch service provider to Kennedy of the four-stage Taurus XL rocket and is also builder of the Glory satellite for Goddard.

NASA TV: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Images, Video, Text, Credits: NASA / Goddard.

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