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Orbital Sciences Corporation confirmed a premature separation of a launch pad umbilical connection to its Antares rocket's upper stage used for data communications halted Wednesday’s countdown of the Antares test launch. Engineers currently are analyzing what occurred to determine what measures will be taken to resolve the issue.

During a launch countdown, safeguards are put in place to periodically verify all systems are functioning as planned. With twelve minutes left in the count, the launch team identified the anomaly and called a scrub of Wednesday’s test launch attempt.

The next launch attempt from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. is tentatively set for no earlier than Friday, April 19, pending final resolution of the issue and acceptable weather conditions. The team is targeting a 5:00 p.m. EDT launch.