At Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, United Launch Alliance teams this morning are preparing to roll back the 330-foot tower at Launch Complex 37 to unveil a Delta IV rocket scheduled to blast off at 11:25 p.m. today. On top of the rocket: the first in a new generation of 12 Boeing Co.-built Global Positioning System satellites called block IIF.
The launch window extends 18 minutes, until 11:43 p.m.
The most recent available forecast shows an 80 percent chance of favorable weather.
The rollback of the nine-million pound Mobile Service Tower was scheduled to begin at 10:25 a.m., though an Air Force spokesman said the move might be pushed back 30 to 60 minutes.
At 11 a.m., ULA is hosting an event at the pad to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Delta program.
This will be the first GPS mission to launch on a Delta IV, after 49 missions launched on the smaller Delta II between 1989 and 2009. Future missions will alternate between the Delta IV and Atlas V, ULA's other Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV.
1 comment:
Tea Bag republicans will be glad when these "big government" jobs are over with. We don't need Tax money supporting Rocket launches that Private corporations can do. Coal mine owners and Oil corporations have shown they are capable of recovery after Mine collapses and explosions. BP oil is recovering oil in the gulf, they are the experts over Big Government and better able to launch and keep things flowing.
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