Emily LakdawallaJan 09, 2006

Great news for New Horizons

I'll just make this an "all New Horizons" morning. The latest Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report from Kennedy Space Center has some good news for New Horizons:

The borescope inspection of the Atlas V RP-1 propellant tank was successfully completed this week, and no defects were observed. The results of the inspection serve to increase confidence in launch success, but further testing and modeling of the vehicle continues in order to provide confidence in proceeding to launch.

This is important news because problems were found in a different Atlas V late last year that prompted the inspection of New Horizons' launch vehicle. The fact that "no defects were observed" removes one more hurdle before New Horizons' launch.

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