September 5, 2012

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Jupiter-bound craft's 2nd maneuver delayed 10 days

This artists rendering provided by NASA shows the Juno spacecraft during an engine burn. NASA decided to postpone a second planned burn Sept. 4, 2012 to study the spacecraft's propulsion system. The space agency said the delay will not affect the mission timeline. (AP Photo/NASA)
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This artists rendering provided by NASA shows the Juno spacecraft during an engine burn. NASA decided to postpone a second planned burn Sept. 4, 2012 to study the spacecraft's propulsion system. The space agency said the delay will not affect the mission timeline. (AP Photo/NASA)

NASA says it has postponed a maneuver planned for the Jupiter-bound spacecraft Juno.

The decision comes a week after successfully fired its main engine. The second engine firing was slated for Tuesday but was delayed to Sept. 14.

After the last maneuver, engineers noticed higher-than-expected pressure in the and wanted time to check it out.

The back-to-back burns are needed to put the spacecraft on course to fly by Earth next year and use the planet's gravity to accelerate to the .

The space agency says the delay will not affect Juno's arrival at Jupiter, scheduled for 2016.

Juno was launched last year. It's on a mission to peer through Jupiter's cloud cover and map its magnetic and gravity fields.

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