A 191-foot-tall Atlas 5 rocket is poised atop an oceanside launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today as officials with International Launch Services continue preparations for a launch Thursday.
Hauled to the pad from a nearby assembly building, the rocket is scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 41 between 4:27 p.m. and 7:17 p.m. Thursday. LC41 is located at the north end of the air base just south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
The Atlas 5 is to deploy a European direct-to-home broadcast television satellite for SES ASTRA of Luxembourg.
Air Force meteorologists say there is a 70 percent chance that weather conditions will be acceptable for launch. The only concern is the chance of thick clouds associated with isolated rainshowers in the area.
A rocket flying through electrically charged clouds could trigger destructive bolts of lightning during flight.
Check out the official launch forecast here: AtlasWeather.pdf
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
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