posted 01-27-2012 11:22 AM               

The Delta Mariner, owned and operated by Foss Marine, made contact with the Eggner Ferry Bridge at US Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 over the Tennessee River Thursday evening, Jan. 26 at 8:15 p.m. Central Time resulting in a portion of the bridge collapsing.

Credit: @NYCAviation

The 312-foot (95-meter) vessel was carrying an Atlas booster and Centaur upper stage for the Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-2) mission scheduled to launch in April and an interstage adapter for NASA's Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission scheduled to launch in August. There is no schedule impact to either launch date expected at this point.

The Mariner cargo area of the ship and the flight hardware did not experience any damage. The hardware is well instrumented and all data from these instruments is being reviewed to confirm that there were no issues.

The Coast Guard is conducting an investigation.

The Delta Mariner was commissioned in 2002 to transport flight hardware from the United Launch Alliance factory in Decatur, Ala., to launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and to the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.