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23 Sep Satellite launch postponed

Posted at 10:05h in News by

A 1,200 acre wildfire at America Vandenburg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara forced official to postpone the launch of a commercial satellite that is to be used to take high resolution images of the earth.

The Atlas V rocket that was due to carry the satellite into space developed a fuel leak while loading and with the fire nearby the launch was postponed so that a repair could be carried out safely.

More than 800 state and federal firefighters were used to tackle the blaze and officials said while it damaged power line on the air base no buildings were affected and there were no reports of casualties.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fire-vandenberg-base-20160918-snap-story.html