3/28/24 9:18 PM UPDATE: ULA WILL NOT LAUNCH DELTA IV HEAVY ON FRIDAY – NEW DATE TBD
UPDATE: ULA earlier reported that they had repaired a system that caused the company to scrub today’s launch. Upon further testing, ULA determined further repairs are needed. No launch date has yet been announced, but Monday is the next opportunity.
What started out as a dicey proposition about whether the final Delta IV Heavy launch would make it off the pad on Thursday ended with a disappointing scrub. But not for the reason most thought it would be.
Just 24 hours before today’s highly anticipated 1:43 PM launch time, the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron issued a forecast that called for a 70% chance of violating launch constraints due to inclement weather. According to the forecast, a cold front was expected to move across Cape Canaveral just prior to the five-hour launch window. The frontal passage was forecast to result in gusty winds for most of the day, with a change in direction as the front passed.
Around 10:30 AM, a high wind warning was issued for Cape Canaveral, which did not bode well for the dwindling countdown. The warning may have factored into the launch being pushed back to 2:45 PM, but shortly after 2:00 PM, it was canceled. Surface winds had not risen to the 25- to 30-knot levels forecast, raising hopes that the launch would proceed by the new launch time.
Unfortunately, as one observer said, ULA (United Launch Alliance) got “one final Delta IV scrub in ” just under four minutes from liftoff. The remark was jokingly made in reference to the previous Delta IV mission, which scrubbed several times before launching last June. Dashing the hopes of what most on-site observers had believed would be an on-time launch, a pipeline that provided pneumatic pressure to the launch vehicle malfunctioned, prompting the call to abort the launch operation. United Launch Alliance said in a statement shortly afterward that the launch would be attempted again on Friday.
ULA CEO Tory Bruno later said on X, “Pump has been repaired. On track for tomorrow’s window”—
The Delta IV Heavy mission, known as NROL-70. represents the last-ever launch for the storied line of Delta rockets.
