Launch of NASA's New Solar Mission Rescheduled to June 27

June 25, 2013

Steve Cole/Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0918/-1100
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov / jbuck@nasa.gov

George Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-102

LAUNCH OF NASA'S NEW SOLAR MISSION RESCHEDULED TO JUNE 27

WASHINGTON -- The launch of NASA's Interface Region Imaging
Spectrograph (IRIS) mission is being delayed one day to 7:27 p.m. PDT
(10:27 p.m. EDT) Thursday, June 27, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California. Live NASA Television launch coverage begins at 6 p.m.
PDT.

Because of a significant power outage at Vandenberg earlier this week,
certain Western Range facilities will not be ready to support the
original June 26 launch date. Range officials believe they will be
able to restore power to the affected facilities in time to support a
launch Thursday evening. Managers will assess the situation at the
Launch Readiness Review Wednesday.

The launch of IRIS on an Orbital Sciences Corporation Pegasus XL
rocket is targeted for the middle of a five-minute window.

IRIS is a NASA Small Explorer Mission to observe how solar material
moves, gathers energy and heats up as it travels through a
little-understood region in the sun's lower atmosphere. This
interface region between the sun's photosphere and corona powers its
dynamic million-degree atmosphere and drives the solar wind.

The drop of the air-launched Pegasus from Orbital's L-1011 carrier
aircraft will occur over the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of 39,000
feet, about 100 miles northwest of Vandenberg off the central coast
of California, south of Big Sur.

The IRIS News Center at Kennedy's Vandenberg Resident Office may be
reached between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. at 805-605-3051.

For complete details on media registration, media events, and live
launch coverage on NASA TV, visit:

http://go.nasa.gov/13L6djG

For NASA TV streaming video, schedule and downlink information, visit:


http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

Extensive prelaunch and launch day coverage of the IRIS spacecraft
will be available on NASA's home page at:

http://www.nasa.gov

To view the IRIS webcast and launch blog, and learn more about the
mission, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/iris


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