Kepler Launch Review Continues

Today's flight readiness review to officially set a launch date and time for NASA's Kepler telescope has paused and will reconvene at 6 p.m.

A team of engineers is continuing to check the launch vehicle, a United Launch Alliance Delta II, for any shared components with an Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus rocket that failed last week.

"We haven't been able to indicate much in the way of similarities or commonalities between the two vehicle systems, but they're not done," said NASA spokesman George Diller. "There's still a couple more things they have to cross off."

The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is expected at 10:49 p.m. Friday, the opening of the first three-minute window.

A second window extends from 11:13 p.m. to 11:16 p.m.

Current weather forecasts show a 90 percent chance of favorable conditions Friday.

Saturday's launch windows, if necessary, are from 10:49 p.m. to to 10:52 p.m., and between 11:17 p.m. and 11:20 p.m., Diller said.

If managers this evening give the go-ahead for a Friday liftoff, fueling of the Delta II's second stage at Launch Complex 17-B would begin Tuesday morning.

The launch was delayed a day to give engineers more time to check out the Delta II's payload fairing system. That's what failed on Taurus XL that launched Feb. 24 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, keeping a $273.4-million NASA environmental satellite from reaching orbit.

ULA workers fastened the Delta II's fairing around Kepler last week, as shown above.

The $600-million Kepler mission will survey more than 100,000 stars for planets like Earth, trying to determine if they are common or rare.

We'll provide an update on the launch schedule as soon as it's available, probably after 7 p.m.

And you can find a complete schedule of upcoming Cape launches here.

IMAGE NOTE: Click on the image to enlarge it. On Launch Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station last week, workers watched closely as the second half of the payload fairing is moved into the mobile service tower for placement around NASA's Kepler spacecraft (left) to complete encapsulation. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent. Photo credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller