Coming up in about 30 minutes, the launch team will receive a weather briefing to make a "go/no go" decision for pumping liquid oxygen into the Delta 2 rocket's first stage.
T minus 3 hours and counting! The Terminal Countdown is now underway to launch the Delta 2 rocket . The countdown includes a 60-minute built-in hold for technicians to deal with tidy up operations
Credit: Boeing photos by Carleton Bailie
The 12-story rocket and its £40 million payload - a mod¬ernized Navstar Global Posi¬tioning System satellite – is still on track to blast off from Space Launch Complex 17A at 03:37 GMT.
Activation of the rocket's guidance control system will start shortly.
Retraction of the mobile service gantry from around the 125-foot tall rocket and preparations will begin for fuelling the vehicle's first stage with a highly fined kerosene propellant and super cold liquid oxygen in one hour. Loading of 10,000 gallons of RP-1 kerosene propellant into the vehicle's first stage is scheduled to commence shortly.
Weather conditions are easterly winds gusting at 10 - 15 knots, temperature of 78-80 degrees F and scattered cumulus clouds at 3,000 feet. Visibility is good at 10 miles, with showers in the vicinity.
Retraction of the mobile service gantry from around the 125-foot tall rocket and preparations will begin for fuelling the vehicle's first stage with a highly fined kerosene propellant and super cold liquid oxygen in one hour.
Launch of the GPS 2R-M1 satellite aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket remains scheduled for 03:37 GMT from pad 17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, US.
Weather forecasters predict a 70 % chance that conditions will be acceptable for lift-off Countdown will start at T minus 4 hours.
A Boeing Delta 2 rocket will launch a modernised NAVSTAR Global Positioning System Block 2R military navigation satellite, GPS 2R-M1, from SLC-17A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch window extends from 0353 to 0421 GMT, on September 22nd.
The launch will be run by the U.S. Air Force, and fly in the 7925 rocket vehicle configuration.
The GPS craft will send continuous navigation signals that allow users virtually anywhere on the planet to find their position in latitude, longitude and altitude and determine time. The signals are so accurate that time can be figured to less than a millionth of a second, velocity to within a fraction of a kilometre per hour and location to within a few metres.