Space Shuttle Discovery

Space Shuttle Discovery - The launch of NASA’s Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has changed its launch date again and is now planned for no earlier than Friday, Feb. 25 at 5:09 a.m. EST.

Currently, NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. engineers are troubleshooting a technical issue that came up Wednesday during the initial launch attempt.

The launch will go live through NASA Television and live coverage is planned to begin at 3:30 a.m. EST.

Space shuttle Discovery will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC-4), a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) and critical spare components to the International Space Station on an 11 day mission.

Nasa states that the data collected from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth’s climate. Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet’s energy budget, the amount of energy entering and exiting Earth’s atmosphere. An accurate measurement of these impacts is important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how they may affect human life.

NASA’s Shuttle and Rocket Launch Schedule 2011 (Note: Schedules can change any moment. Visit NASA page for updates). The schedule below was updated Feb. 23, 2011.

Date: Feb. 25 *
Mission : Glory
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site : Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Launch Time : 2:09:43 a.m. PST/5:09:43 a.m. EST
Description : The Glory Mission will help increase our understanding of the Earth’s energy balance by collecting data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere and how the Sun’s irradiance affects the Earth’s climate.