The Air Force and United Launch Alliance tonight plan to launch a Global Positioning System satellite atop a Delta IV rocket, two days after Friday's first attempt scrubbed at the last minute because of a spacecraft telemetry problem.
The launch is targeted for 11:17 p.m., the opening on an 18-minute launch window at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 37.
Weather once again looks like it won't be an issue, with a 90 percent chance of favorable conditions.
Friday's launch attempt scrubbed after the Air Force said signals allowing the spacecraft called GPS IIF-1 to communicate with satellite ground support equipment were lost.
The Air Force believes that problem has been solved and the 20-story rocket and spacecraft are ready to launch tonight.
Fueling of the Delta IV's booster and upper stage with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen should begin around 5 p.m. Two rocket also carries two strap-on solid rocket boosters.
The 3,500-pound satellite is the first in a new generation of GPS spacecraft, part of a $1.6 billion Air Force program known as block IIF to replenish and enhance the 24-satellite GPS constellation.
GPS IIF-1 is scheduled to separate from the rocket's upper stage three hours and 33 minutes after launch and will settle in an orbit 11,000 nautical miles above Earth.
Join us here for live countdown coverage starting around 5 p.m. And if you won't be near a computer, sign up for text message alerts here.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
No comments:
Post a Comment