After a series of high wind violations — and later several malfunctioning fill-and-drain fuel valves — put the kibosh on Orion's Thursday test flight, mission engineers spent the rest of the day testing equipment to ensure Friday's rescheduled launch goes more smoothly.
Orion's countdown will be restarted early Friday morning, with a takeoff time of 7:05 a.m. If there are any issues, the spacecraft will have a launch window of two hours and 49 minutes.
"Our plan is to fly tomorrow," Mark Geyer, Orion program manager, said on Thursday.
While a stray boat and high winds delayed Thursday's proceedings, it was the malfunctioning fill-and-drain valves on the thrusters of the Delta IV Heavy rocket that forced officials to reschedule the unmanned test flight. After Thursday morning's launch window closed without takeoff, engineers spent the rest of the day opening and closing the valves, ensuring they would perform as planned in crunch time
"We're very confident we're going to be able to exonerate the equipment," said Dan Collins, chief operating officer of United Launch Alliance, the company that makes the rocket.
Weather could again be an issue Friday. But with meteorologists calling for a 60 percent chance of acceptable launch conditions, NASA officials can only wait and hope for the best.
