WASHINGTON, January 30 (Sputnik) — The launch of NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, scheduled for Friday, has been delayed for a second time, the US space agency said.
"The launch of NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, which will produce the highest-resolution maps of soil moisture ever obtained from space, has been delayed to a targeted launch date of Jan. 31," NASA said in a statement on its website.
Launch has been delayed until Saturday Jan 31. More info from @ulalaunch here: http://t.co/bek2VPwd71
— NASA SMAP (@NASASMAP) January 30, 2015
The launch has been delayed pending completion of "minor repairs" to the United Launch Alliance Delta II launch vehicle, after minor "debonds" were discovered during an inspection Thursday.
The research satellite was initially set to be launched on Thursday but the launch was delayed last minute due to high upper level winds.
