Live at the Cape: Delta II Being Fueled For Flight

NASA and United Launch Alliance are counting down to the planned launch tonight of a Delta II rocket and a robotic explorer that will search for Earthlike planets in solar systems outside of own.

The 12-story rocket and its payload -- NASA's Kepler spacecraft -- remain scheduled for liftoff at 10:49 p.m. NASA will have two, three-minute opportunities to put the spacecraft on course for an Earth-trailing orbit that will enable it to peer constantly at an interplanetary region filled with more than 100,000 stars.

Engineers have been preparing the first of the 12-story rocket for fuel-loading operations. All personnel not directly involved in the countdown are being evacuated from the Launch Complex 17 area, and the rocket's guidance system has been turned on for preflight checkouts.

A highly refined form of kerosene similar to jet fuel now is being loaded onboard the first stage of the rocket. It's known as RP-1, or Rocket Propellant-1. It will power the first stage's Rocketdyne RS-27 engine. The loading of liquid oxygen aboard the first stage will follow.

You can watch live NASA TV coverage of the countdown and launch here in The Flame Trench beginning at 8:30 p.m. Simply click on the NASA TV box at the righthand side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer.

The weather outlook for launch remains good. Forecasters say there is less than a five percent change that conditions would prohibit a launch.

Look for the Delta II to head out on a due east course, blazing a fiery trail through Space Coast skies. It should be spectacular.

ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge and save the NASA TV screen grab of the aft end of the Delta II rocket being readied for launch at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In view are several of the nozzles on nine solid rocket boosters strapped to the first stage of the vehicle.