19:05, 04 March 2011 | GMT +6
NASA rocket fails to reach orbit
ASTANA. March 4. KAZINFORM The Glory spacecraft and the Taurus XL rocket, which lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California early Friday, will not reach orbit, NASA said. Kazinform refers to Trend News.
"Glory Launch: It looks like we have a problem with launch. Standby," NASA posted on its Twitter account. "The launch team is working through its launch contingency plan, including collecting data from the launch."
NASA went into contingency mode about six minutes into the launch at 5:09 a.m. ET. Initial data indicated that the rocket fairing did not separate, slowing the rocket down and making it unable to achieve orbit, CNN reported.
The mission was designed to collect data that scientists plan to use to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect the Earth's climate. Kazinform cites Trend News. See www.en.trend.az