14 DAY TRIAL // At a launch status meeting held on March 15, officials at NASA decided to postpone the launch of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission, a member of the Small Explorer class.
An issue was detected with the flight computer on the Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket that is supposed to launch the spacecraft. Engineers still have some concerns about the flight software itself.
At this point, NASA officials are uncertain as to when NuSTAR actually launches, but they say that the mission will not be delayed by more than two months. The spacecraft will still take off from the Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
The Pegasus XL rocket will be affixed underneath a large airplane, which will take it to a high altitude before releasing it. This approach circumvents the need for NASA to use a larger, more expensive rocket.