LIVE IMAGES: Refresh this page to see the latest images of the Delta 4 on the pad at Complex 37 and the U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing Weather Channel.
A 33-story mobile service tower backed away from a Delta IV rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station today, clearing the way for the planned launch tonight of a new national weather satellite.
The 224-foot rocket and its payload -- a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite -- are scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 37B at the beginning of a one-hour window that opens at 6:17 p.m.
The $500 million satellite will join two identical spacecraft that deliver the images seen on television weather forecasts across the country. The spacecraft also are key to tracking hurricanes as they spawn off the west coast of Africa and begin making their way across the Atlantic Ocean to eastern seaboard and Gulf Coast of United States.
The weather forecast calls for a 90 percent chance conditions will be acceptable for launch. The only concerns are the potential for strong ground winds at the pad and wind shears at altitudes between 35,000 and 45,000 feet.
The 330-foot-tall mobile service tower now rests about a football field away from the United Launch Alliance rocket. It was moved along rail tracks to its launch position around 8 a.m. The nine-million-pound tower shielded the Delta from the elements after it was raised two months ago and it also provided engineers and technicians with access to the vehicle during launch preparations. That access was key to swapping out faulty steering thruster and fuel line valves in the past week.
You can watch the launch live here in The Flame Trench. Click the NASA TV box on the right side of the page to launch our NASA TV viewer and live coverage of the Delta IV countdown starting at 4 p.m. NASA's George Diller will be providing launch commentary.
ABOUT THE IMAGE: Click to enlarge the United Launch Alliance image of the Delta IV rocket as seen from the Mobile Service Tower after the 330-foot structure was backed away from the vehicle at Launch Complex 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo Credit: Carleton Bailie/United Launch Alliance.
3 comments:
I notice you carefully avoided saying exactly what model of GOES satellite this is.
Doesn't anybody at ULA say this stuff out loud first?
Anonymous:
You caught me....
But it's not ULA, it's NASA and NOAA. NOAA owns and will operate the satellite. NASA manages the procurement and launch of the satellites.....ULA just launches them; they don't have anything to do with naming them....
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