Watch It Live: Delta II set to launch in California

BLOGGER UPDATE, 3:55 PM: A powerful commercial Earth imaging satellite is circling the planet today after a successful launch on a Delta II rocket. The United Launch Alliance rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 2:51 p.m. EDT and delivered its satellite into its operational orbit 275 miles above the planet about 62 minutes later. A successful spacecraft separation from the rocket came about 3:53 p.m. EDT.

BLOGGER UPDATE, 2:54 PM: A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 2:51 p.m., about 13 minutes late due to a minor glitch with the rocket's second stage battery. The 12-story rocket is carrying a commercial Earth imaging satellite into an orbit about 275 miles above Earth. The satellite is scheduled to be deployed around 3:53 p.m. EDT.

BLOGGER NOTE, 2:30 PM: The countdown to launch of a Delta II rocket is on hold while mission managers analyze a technical glitch with a second stage battery. The problem has been resolved and the scheduled 2:38 p.m. EDT launch is being retargeted for 2:51 p.m. EDT at Vandenberg Airt Force Base in California. The window today extends until 2:52 p.m. EDT.

A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying a commercial Earth-imaging satellite is counting down toward a 2:38 p.m. EDT launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The launch window extends to 2:52 p.m. Eastern, and the weather forecast is perfect.

Click here to access a live ULA webcast of the countdown and liftoff beginning at 2:15 p.m. EDT.

ULA is launching DigitalGlobe's Worldview-2 satellite on behalf of Boeing Launch Services.

Worldview-2 is the third satellite in DigitalGlobe's constellation. The Longmont, Colo.-based company produces high-resolution images of Earth for a variety of industries using geospatial information, including civil government mapping, land-use planning, disaster relief, exploration, defense and intelligence, and visualization and simulation environments.

ULA launched Worldview-1 on a Delta II in 2007.

Worldview-2 (left) will offer pictures with greater detail and color resolution - using eight color bands instead of four - and the ability to revisit sites more quickly, in just over a day. It can image up to 376,000 square miles per day.

The 5,700-pound satellite, built by Ball Aerospace, will separate from the Delta II second stage after a flight of just over an hour, settling in a polar orbit about 480 miles above Earth. The spacecraft has a mission life of about seven years.

Check out this ULA overview for more on the mission.

And these DigitalGlboe fact sheets provide more background on WorldView-2 and the company's satellite constellation.

Today's launch is on schedule despite a wildfire outside the Vandenberg gates last week that, as of last Wednesday, had burned 350 acres and led the base to evacuate non-essential personnel.

IMAGE NOTE: Top, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, a Delta II rocket sits poised on its Space Launch Complex-2 launch pad with the Digital Globe WorldView-2 spacecraft ready to launch at 2:38 p.m. EDT today. The launch window for today’s launch lasts until 2:52 p.m. EDT and a 100-percent chance of acceptable weather is forecasted. The United Launch Alliance Delta II will be launched on behalf of Boeing Launch Services. Photo by Bill Hartenstein, The Boeing Company. Satellite and mission logos provided by DigitalGlobe.