With one hour to go before today’s launch opportunity, Mike McAleenan of the 45th Space Wing just delivered a detailed forecast calling for an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions. The concerns are for high winds at launch time. Controllers are evaluating data recorded by weather balloons that are periodically sent aloft to gauge conditions …
Welcome to our continuous coverage of the countdown to launch of DSCOVR, a new spacecraft for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Today’s launch time is 6:05:33 p.m. EST. There are no technical issues at this time, but the winds at higher altitudes are currently red.
SpaceX-5 Dragon Departure: Today, the crew configured the Dragon/Node-2 vestibule for demate by disconnecting Air Revitalization System (ARS) jumper, both power and data jumpers, and installed the Center Disk Cover then closed the Node 2 Nadir Hatch. Later, they depressurized and pressure checked the vestibule. Dragon was then unberthed from the Node 2 Nadir docking …
Credit: SpaceX
At T-2 hours there are no technical issues and the launch weather is both observed and forecast to be “Go” at the planned liftoff time of 6:05:33 p.m. EST. Engineers continue to assess weather balloon data and the upper level winds remain red.
Managers have made a slight adjustment to the targeted liftoff time of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying NOAA’s DSCOVR into space. The new launch time is 6:05:33.5 p.m. EST. At T-2 hours, 55 minutes, the Falcon 9’s first and second stages are being loaded with RP-1, a rocket-grade kerosene, and liquid oxygen.
Managers overseeing the launch of NOAA’s DSCOVR spacecraft on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket have given a “Go” to begin loading the rocket’s first and second stages with propellant. The process is expected to begin at L-3 hours, or 3:05 p.m. EST. There is an 80 percent chance for favorable launch weather conditions and there are …
The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft was released from the International Space Station’s robotic arm at 2:10 p.m. EST. The capsule was maneuvered outside the vicinity of the space station in preparation for its return trip to Earth. The capsule is currently scheduled to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at about 7:44 p.m., 259 miles southwest …
The scene this morning at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida as reporters readied their cameras for this evening’s liftoff of NOAA’s DSCOVR spacecraft atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Forecasters upgraded today’s expected weather to 80 percent chance of favorable conditions for the launch of NOAA’s DSCOVR spacecraft at 6:05 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A SpaceX Falcon 9 will place the spacecraft on a course to L1, an area about a million miles from Earth where DSCOVR will observe the …
