Atlas V, missile warning satellite shoot for Friday launch from Cape Canaveral
James DeanUpdate: Liftoff of Atlas V at 7:48 p.m. Friday!
United Launch Alliance hopes to try again Friday night to launch an Atlas V rocket and U.S. missile warning satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Trouble with a liquid oxygen valve in ground equipment thwarted a first countdown Thursday night, preventing oxidizer from being loaded in the booster.
If the problem is resolved quickly, liftoff from Launch Complex 41 would be targeted for 7:48 p.m. Friday, at the opening of another 40-minute window.
The weather forecast is excellent, with a 90 percent chance of conditions meeting launch rules.
[Atlas V ready to launch missile warning satellite from Cape Canaveral]
[SpaceX Falcon Heavy status updates: Now targeting Friday for test fire at KSC]
On top of the 194-foot Atlas V rocket is the Air Force's fourth Space Based Infrared System satellite, or SBIRS, bound for a geosynchronous orbit high over the equator.
The $1.2 billion satellite built by Lockheed Martin will complete the initial constellation for a program started in 1996 to replace aging Defense Support Program spacecraft.
From roughly 22,000 miles up, the satellites’ more advanced infrared scanning and staring sensors scour the globe for signs of missile launches, ready to alert missile defense systems of a threat.
The mission is ULA’s second of the year, coming on the heels of a Delta IV rocket launch of a classified intelligence satellite last Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FlameTrench.
Launch Friday
- Rocket: United Launch Alliance Atlas V (411 configuration)
- Mission: Air Force missile warning satellite (Space Based Infrared System GEO Flight 4)
- Launch Time: 7:48 p.m.
- Launch Window: 40 minutes, to 8:28 p.m.
- Launch Complex: 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
- Weather: 90 percent “go”
Join floridatoday.com at 6:30 p.m. for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of ULA’s launch broadcast starting 20 minutes before liftoff.