By Andy Pasztor 

A string of weather issues and technical problems prompted NASA to delay Thursday's planned launch of an unmanned Orion spacecraft from Florida for at least a day.

Orion's launch would have marked the first test flight of a spacecraft the U.S. hopes to rely on for human exploration of the solar system in the next few decades.

Higher than allowable winds and balky fuel valves temporarily stopped the countdown multiple times at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station before and after the original launch time of 7 a.m. EST.

In the end, National Aeronautics and Space Administration teams determined they lacked adequate time to troubleshoot problems--and didn't want to take the chance of depleting certain onboard video-camera batteries--by making one last attempt to lift off just before the launch window was set to close around 9:45 a.m.

Wind shifts and an errant boater who mistakenly entered the protected launch zone were responsible for some initial delays. Automated fail-safe systems twice halted the countdown briefly when sensors recorded excessive winds, but mission controllers remained confident they had enough time to recycle systems for launch.

Later, balky valves on Orion's fuel system prompted another, longer delay. Even as engineers struggled to verify that all the valves were working normally, managers scrubbed Thursday's launch and announced the next attempt wouldn't occur until Friday morning at the earliest.

The planned voyage, featuring two orbits and scheduled to last less than five hours, is slated to take Orion some 3,600 miles above the earth, more than 10 times higher than the trajectory of the international space station. But it won't resolve long-standing questions about how future Orion missions will be paid for or even where they would go.

NASA officials describe later versions of the 11-foot long Orion, with advanced onboard life-support and navigation systems protected by extensive radiation shielding, as the primary vehicle to transport future astronauts to asteroids and eventually to Mars, perhaps by the late 2030s. Yet so far, NASA's plans have failed to generate the international support, congressional consensus and public excitement back home that the agency expected.

It is unclear how NASA's budgets--already stretched by the roughly $3 billion annual price that is the U.S. share of operating the international space station--will cover Orion's multibillion-dollar development costs over the next decade as well as a steady launch rhythm. Building and testing separate vehicles able to touch down at destinations is likely to cost billions of additional dollars. Debate also continues to simmer on Capitol Hill and elsewhere about whether astronauts should first take Orion near the moon to perfect propulsion, fueling, life-support and other essential technologies.

Orion illustrates the mercurial, sometimes roller-coaster nature of U.S. manned space efforts better than any other recent program.

The planned test launch will be the first time since 1972, when Apollo 17 returned from the moon, that a spacecraft built to carry astronauts will venture beyond low-earth orbit.

The major goals of the test flight will be to assess how well Orion's navigation and electronics systems stand up to radiation, the performance of its heat shield and the way its parachutes are able to withstands re-entry speeds.

Built by Lockheed Martin Corp. and currently costing NASA about $1 billion a year, the space agency casts Orion as the key to deep-space ventures. Together with a next-generation rocket, the overall system could cost more than $20 billion through 2021, the year the first manned mission is slated to occur.

Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com

Access Investor Kit for Lockheed Martin Corp.

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US5398301094

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Lockheed Martin Charts.
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Lockheed Martin Charts.