Image above: On Launch Pad 17-A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, the first half of the fairing is installed around the Phoenix spacecraft. NASA/George Shelton

• Watch NASA TV
Phoenix launch postponed 24 hours

The launch of the Phoenix spacecraft has been rescheduled to August 4.

Due to the forecast for severe weather in the vicinity of the launch pad on Tuesday afternoon, the Delta II launch team was unable to complete fueling of the rocket's second stage.

The two available launch times on Aug. 4 are 5:26:34 and 6:02:59 a.m. EDT.

The Phoenix Mars lander's assignment is to dig through the Martian soil and ice in the arctic region and use its onboard scientific instruments to analyze the samples it retrieves.

Both rocket and spacecraft have been undergoing final preparation at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida