LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, where United Launch Alliance is preparing to launch a Delta IV rocket and a new national weather satellite. The image on the left is from the Air Force 45th Space Wing Weather Channel; on the right is the Delta IV rocket on Launch Complex 37. They will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds. Be sure to refresh this page, though, for periodic updates.
BLOGGER UPDATE, 2:57 p.m.: The countdown and fueling operations are continuing without significant problems. The Channel One communications loop is quiet. All systems appear to be go for launch, but a lightning alert still is in effect and the weather still is expected to be no-go during the 6:14 p.m.-7:14 p.m. launch time.
BLOGGER UPDATE, 2:19 p.m.: A lightning strike was recorded 1.9 miles northeast of pad at Launch Complex 37. The strike occurred at 2:12 p.m. Engineers report that Delta IV electrical systems were unaffected. No issues reported with the payload: a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.
Second-stage fueling of a Delta IV rocket is under way at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as crackling-and-rumbling thunder reverberate around the area.
With a Phase Two Lightning Warning in effect for Launch Complex 37, engineers are chilling down propellant lines in advance of the loading of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into tanks aboard the upper stage of the United Launch Alliance rocket.
The stage is powered by a Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL-10B-2 engine.
The Delta IV and its payload -- a new national weather satellite -- remain scheduled to blast off during a one-hour window that will open at 6:14 p.m.
Launch Weather Officer Joel Tumbiolo of the Air Force 45th Space Wing issued a forecast that calls for a 70-percent chance that stormy weather will force a second consecutive launch scrub.
Launch preps nonetheless continue amid the rolling thunder and flashing lightning. Dark low-level clouds are moving from the north end of the Cape to the south, and the range now is red for four key launch commit criteria: lightning, cumulus clouds, anvil clouds and surface field miles.
Thunderstorm-induced winds are gusting up to 68 knots in the area, and it is raining in the Kennedy Space Center area.
Fuel-loading operations began around 12:45 p.m. amid a Phase One Lightning Warning -- alerts that are issued when conditions are ripe for lightning strikes.
A Phase Two warning is issued when lightning strikes actually are being recorded in the area.
Range safety rules allow for fuel-loading operations to continue if a Phase Two Lightning Warning is issued after the start-up of tanking. So mission managers in effect have kept open the opportunity to launch during the 6:14 p.m.-to-7:14 p.m. window should stormy weather clear in time to proceed with launch.
Stick with us for live countdown updates throughout the afternoon. We also will be broadcasting live here in The Flame Trench NASA TV coverage of the final countdown and launch attempt starting at 4 p.m. Simply click the NASA TV box on the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer, and be sure to refresh this page for periodic updates.
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