No Launch Before Its Time

Abstract

Aura is an Earth-observing satellite developed to help us study the quality of the air we breathe. It will look at the state of the ozone and the atmospheric composition in regards to the Earth's changing climate. I headed to California on July 5, 2004. The plan was that the satellite would launch on the tenth, but we had a few problems getting it off. This was the fifty-ninth launch of my career, and it was also a little different than most of my previous launches. Most of the time it's weather that postpones a launch; there aren't usually that many technical issues this late in the game. This time. however, we had several problems, equally split between the launch vehicle and the spacecraft. I remember a member of the crew asking me, 'Is this normal?' And in my experience, it wasn't.