The launch of the Deep Impact spacecraft has been rescheduled
for no earlier than Jan. 12. During a review of launch vehicle
hardware, it was discovered that some components of the inter-stage
adapter did not receive proper heat treatment and must be removed
and replaced. The inter-stage adapter is located between the first
and second stage of the rocket. A Boeing engineer reviewing an
"as-built" drawing of the vehicle discovered the inter-stage had
not been heat treated to a revised higher specification.
The Cassini spacecraft completed a successful rendezvous with
Saturn's moon Titan on Monday. This was the last pass before the
European Space Agency's Huygens probe is sprung loose from Cassini
on Christmas Eve (in US time zones). Information gathered during
this flyby will provide an opportunity to compare images from
Cassini's first close Titan encounter which occurred on Oct.
26.
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