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NASA launch — and University of Iowa watch party — rescheduled for Wednesday
The planned Tuesday launch was aborted just before liftoff
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The launch of twin NASA satellites built by University of Iowa researchers was called off Tuesday, and will be attempted again on Wednesday.
The Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites mission — or TRACERS — will lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, Calif. between 1:13 and 2:11 p.m. Wednesday.
The liftoff was aborted about 45 seconds before planned liftoff Tuesday due to “air space concerns.”
The launch comes six years after the University of Iowa landed $115 million from NASA to research how solar wind interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field.
The university will again plan to host a “live viewing event” for the launch — which is part of NASA’s long-running Explorers Program — inside the lecture hall named after UI space pioneer James Van Allen, whose Explorer I in 1958 discovered the Earth’s radiation belts.
If you go
WHAT: TRACERS launch watch party
WHEN: Doors open at noon, Wednesday, July 23 for the SpaceX launch window between 1:13 and 2:11 p.m.
WHERE: Lecture Room One, Van Allen Hall, 30 North Dubuque St., Iowa City
WHO: The event is open to the public.
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