The spacecraft itself was not found inside the missile in the hangar
Avi Blizovsky
Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 rocket that is supposed to launch the first spacecraft to Pluto, New Horizons, was damaged, although apparently not seriously, by Hurricane Wilma that passed through Florida at the beginning of the week, but according to experts, the launch will still be possible as planned.
The 61-meter-long rocket was standing upright in a hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base when Wilma struck on Monday, with winds reaching 122 mph (XNUMX km/h) at Florida's spaceport on the Atlantic coast.
The sliding doors of the hangar, which are made of materials that are supposed to protect them from winds at a speed of up to 233 km/h, did not withstand the load and this caused minor malfunctions to the missile and the ground support equipment connected to it, said a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin. "We are quite sure that this is not going to be a reason for stopping the launch." she added.
NASA's launch window for this spacecraft is set to end on February 14, 2006. In February 2007, it will orbit Jupiter and use its gravity to reach Pluto in July 2015.
