A Delta II rocket will make a second attempt to launch a national weather satellite from California early Thursday, after a launch pad glitch scrubbed this morning's attempt.
The launch time is 5:22 a.m. EST, the start of a 10-minute launch window.
You can watch live NASA TV coverage of the launch here at The Flame Trench starting at 3 a.m. EST. Just click on the still image on the right side of this page to launch a viewer.
The forecast has improved slightly to a 40-percent chance of weather suitable for launch, but thick clouds could keep the vehicle grounded.
United Launch Alliance workers have replaced a failed relay card believed to have caused problems with the gaseous nitrogen pressurization system at Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2, NASA spokesman George Diller said. The 12-story rocket's mobile service tower is expected to be rolled away today at 8:30 p.m. EST, with liquid oxygen loading scheduled a few hours before launch.
Overnight, the Air Force's 30th Weather Squadron plans to fly a reconnaissance aircraft to analyze the thickness and patterns of clouds approaching the central California launch site.
The NOAA-N Prime polar-orbiting satellite is owned and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It is designed to improve weather forecasts and search-and-rescue operations.
The spacecraft is ready to fly after sustaining serious damage in a 2003 manufacturing mishap, when it fell to the ground while workers attempted to rotate it to a horizontal position. You can checkout the mishap report as well as an Office of Safety & Mission Assurance critique here: NOAA-N Prime Mishap Report.
Check out the Official Launch Press Kit.
And if you are interested in following along with the major events during the countdown and uphill climb into orbit, check out the ULA Mission Overview.
Here's a slick brochure on the payload: NOAA-N Prime Booklet.
And here's a shorter synopsis: NOAA-N Prime Fact Sheet.
Read about the history of polar-orbiting weather satellites here: POES History.
ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge and save the United Launch Alliance/Carleton Bailie photo of the 12-story Delta II poised on Space Launch Complex 2 after the mobile service tower was rolled back late Tuesday. You can also click to enlarge and save the photo of the NOAA-N spacecraft toppled over in an assembly facility in in September 2003, and the NOAA-N Prime mission emblem.
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