NASA’s Lunar Prospector is readied for launch as its gantry-like service tower is rolled back again at Cape Canaveral Air Station’s Launch Complex 46. The launch, previously scheduled for Jan. 5, was postponed one day due to a problem with a range safety radar located at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. Lunar Prospector, built for the NASA Ames Research Center by Lockheed Martin, is a spin-stabilized spacecraft designed to provide NASA with the first global maps of the Moon’s surface and its gravitational magnetic fields, as well as look for the possible presence of ice near the lunar poles. It will orbit the Moon at an altitude of approximately 63 miles during a one-year mission. The launch of Lunar Prospector is now scheduled for Jan. 6, 1998 at 9:28 p.m. EST KSC-98pc103
