JPL’s SMAP Rocket Stays Put; Launch Postponed Almost at Last Minute

The anticipated launch of Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket was postponed this morning as “high level winds” thwarted the mission’s “ability to fly,” NASA Launch Director Tim Dunn said, noting the disappointment.

NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) observatory, which will produce the highest-resolution and most accurate maps of soil moisture ever obtained from space, has been postponed to launch Friday, Jan. 29, at 6:20 a.m. PST (9:20 a.m. EST) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  The launch window lasts three minutes.