Weather promising for Va. launch to orbit Friday
The latest weather briefing this afternoon projects an 85 percent chance the Air Force will be able to launch its TacSat-3 satellite atop a Minotaur rocket tonight. The launch window is currently set to open at 7:35 p.m.
UPDATE 6:35 p.m.: One hour to go and everything looks fine for launch at 7:35 p.m. Range control personnel are shooing boaters from the area. No one wants rocket parts to fall on people if things go badly.
UPDATE 6:50 p.m. : Count is holding at T-45 minutes. Some sort of problem with launch support equipment.
UPDATE 8:40 p.m.: Count is still holding while troubleshooters work on a power supply problem at the pad. If the count resumes, it would take the launch to the end of the window at 11 p.m. Thunderstorms and severe weather are due at the pad by 1 a.m.
UPDATE 9:40 p.m.: New launch time is 10:40 p.m. The clock is running again.
UPDATE: 10:35 p.m.: T-10 minutes and counting. Cloud cover will be a problem for many of us.
UPDATE: 10:55 p.m.: Launch scrubbed again, this time for a technical problem just 2 minutes 13 seconds before liftoff. Wallops has ruled out a fourth attempt on Saturday evening. Next try will come after the Atlantis shuttle mission to Hubble Space Telescope, preparing to launch Monday
But while there are no storms threatening the launch at the moment, there are plenty of clouds around to spoil the view from Baltimore. Here's the radar loop.
Things may thin out some before the rocket takes to the air, so it's definitely worth watching for. But there are no guarantees. Look toward the southeast, low on the horizon.
The best place to be is clearly down on the Eastern Shore, in OC or Chincoteague.
Once again, you can follow the countdown via the NASA Wallops Webcast. But remember that it typically runs at least 15 seconds behind the actual events, so be sure to start watching for the launch a minute or so before the Web countdown reaches zero.
You can also folow the events via Twitter, at twitter.com/NASA_Wallops
If you see the launch, please come back here and leave us a comment. Tell us where you were and what you saw. Thanks!
QUERY: Anyone having trouble getting on Twitter?
