Rocket’s Mission to Comet Is Delayed

An alarm went off just before a rocket was to blast off with NASA’s comet-chasing Stardust spacecraft, delaying the launch at Cape Canaveral, Fla., by at least one day. Sporadic dips in current were detected in the Boeing Delta rocket beacon with less than two minutes remaining in the countdown. The beacon is needed to track the rocket during flight. NASA tentatively rescheduled the launch for this afternoon. Engineers believe nothing is broken and that the use of more ground radar sites than usual may have upset the current, said launch manager Ray Lugo.