The planned launch tonight of a Delta IV Heavy rocket and on a classified National Reconnaissance Office mission is being delayed 24 hours for yet-to-be-specified reasons.The United Launch Alliance booster and its top-secret payload -- the first to be launched on a heavy version of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV -- had been slated to blast off of Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:49 p.m. tonight. There would have been a four-hour launch window.
The launch is now being targeted for liftoff Wednesday night. The exact launch time is expected to be released later today.
The weather forecast for launch tonight had been iffy at best. The Air Force issued a forecast Monday that called for a 60 percent chance conditions would be too cloudy and windy to proceed with launch.
You can read the full details in this official report from the Air Force 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron: Delta IV Launch Weather.
ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge the United Launch Alliance photo of a Delta IV Heavy rocket at Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station prior to a previous launch. Photo credit: ULA/Pat Corkery.
No comments:
Post a Comment