After a two-day delay because of technical issues, NASA successfully launched the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) spacecraft on Thursday.
The launch window opened at 8:26 a.m. and the rocket ignited just after 8:30 a.m.
The Pegasus rocket was launched from the belly of a carrier aircraft flying out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
The original launch was set for Monday morning, but the hydraulic mechanism release was not functioning properly and the mission was aborted.
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Engineers worked Tuesday on the mechanism failure and found further issues that delayed the CYGNSS launch another day.
"The CYGNSS launch planned for Wednesday ... is being delayed due to an issue with flight parameter data used by spacecraft software,” NASA said in a statement. “The issue was discovered during routine testing Tuesday. The new flight parameter data have undergone verification testing on the engineering model, and will be uploaded to the spacecraft on Wednesday.
"The uploading of new flight data is a very routine procedure, and is expected to correct the issue. The next launch attempt will be determined pending the results of ongoing tests.”
Orbital's "Stargazer" L-1011 carrier aircraft carried the Pegasus rocket, which holds CYGNSS’ eight microsatellites.
The satellite array will be launched in a low orbit to study surface winds and aid hurricane intensity forecasts.
The CYGNSS project cost about $162 million.
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