Launch of Boeing's Delta 2 rocket carrying a replacement satellite for the U.S. military's Global Positioning System has been re-targeted for late next week after technicians exchange batteries on the third stage, the Air Force said Wednesday.

File image of a Delta 2 rocket at pad 17B. Photo: Carleton Bailie/Boeing

Liftoff from pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will occur no sooner than Friday, November 5. The available launch window extends from 12:43 to 1:11 a.m. EST (0543-0611 GMT).

This launch of the GPS 2R-13 satellite has encountered several hitches that postponed liftoff from mid-September, including the series of hurricanes impacting Florida.

More recently, the mission slipped from October 25 to October 30 for the precautionary replacement of an explosive line igniter on the third stage spin stabilization motors and double-checking flight control equipment after a factory testing problem on a different Delta 2.

The latest delay from October 30 to the tentative November 5 date provides time for the battery changeout.

"After resolution of the flight controller and explosive line igniter issues, the Delta 2 GPS 2R-13 launch was postponed again due to an issue with the qualification of the third stage 5 Amp hour batteries," an Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center official said in a statement to Spaceflight Now.

"Boeing recently determined these batteries had exceeded their qualification margin and, as a result, Boeing needs to replace them. The work associated with this removal and replacement leads to battery re-installation on October 29, which pushes our launch to no earlier than November 5."

The three-stage Delta 2 rocket will boost the GPS satellite into an egg-shaped transfer orbit ranging from 11,000 miles at its highest point to 100 miles on the low end with an inclination of 39 degrees to the equator. A solid-fuel kick motor on the satellite raises the low point to circularize the craft's orbit and increases inclination to 55 degrees to reach the GPS constellation.

Controllers plan to fully test the satellite over the following few weeks before placing it into service to replace an aging GPS craft launched in the summer of 1991 that has well surpassed its design life.

Meanwhile, NASA and Boeing have not established a new launch date for the Swift gamma-ray observatory atop a Delta 2 from pad 17A. Transportation of the spacecraft to the launch pad won't occur until the GPS mission safely lifts off.