NASA announces contingency in satellite launch

WASHINGTON. March 4. KAZINFORM About six minutes into the launch of NASA's earth-observation satellite Glory, NASA announced that a payload faring didn't separate from the Glory spacecraft. Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

According to NASA, telemetry indicated that the protective shell atop the Taurus XL rocket carrying the satellite did not separate as expected about three minutes after launch.

A press briefing to discuss the Glory launch failure is planned at Vandenberg for approximately 8:00 a.m. EST (1300 GMT).

Glory mission was intended to improve NASA's understanding of how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate.

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, Virginia, is the launch service provider to Kennedy of the four-stage Taurus XL rocket and is also builder of the Glory satellite for Goddard. Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com