United Launch Alliance has delayed the launch of a Delta IV rocket carrying the ninth Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite due to a problem with a first-stage booster, the company announced Saturday. The WGS-9 launch had been scheduled for this week, but when a routine pre-launch inspection uncovered the booster issue, ULA delayed the launch to “no earlier than March 14.” ULA launched the previous satellite in the WGS constellation aboard a Delta IV rocket on Dec. 7, 2016.
The latest round of environmental sampling for the Air Force’s Missile Community Cancer Study found trace amounts of potentially harmful chemicals called volatile organic compounds in the service’s ICBM facilities, but not at levels that would pose a health hazard, Air Force Global Strike Command announced Oct. 22.