NASA postpones launch of X-ray telescope

[March 17, 2012]  PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- NASA has postponed the launch of a new X-ray telescope to allow more time to check an issue with the rocket that will boost it into orbit.

The space agency said Friday the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array will not launch this month as planned. A new launch date has not been set, but NASA expects it to occur sometime in the next two months.

The telescope will be launched aboard a Pegasus XL rocket from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Mission managers decided to delay the launch to doublecheck the flight software on the rocket.

The telescope will peer at the sun, black holes and other hot and energetic objects.

[Associated Press]

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