GEORGE DILLER: From the Mission Director's Center at Cape Canaveral, this is Delta Launch Control at T-97 minutes,
48 seconds and counting. We are now about to enter the final two hours of the countdown for the launch of
NASA's STEREO spacecraft aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket. The launch remains targeted for 8:38 p.m. tonight.
There is a 15-minute launch window that extends until 8:53 p.m. This afternoon at 12:50 p.m.,
the gantry-like rotating service structure began to move away from the Delta II vehicle.
It was fully retracted in the park position a half hour later at 1:20 p.m.
The call to stations for the launch team to man their consoles was at 5 o'clock this afternoon.
The operation to load RP-1, a highly refined kerosene fuel aboard the Delta first stage began approximately
a half hour ago, and it was completed after loading 9,979 gallons of RP-1,
the highly refined kerosene, into the Delta first stage.
The next major activity will be to load liquid oxygen aboard the first stage, which will begin in about a half an hour.
We're standing by for the launch weather forecast in preparation for loading the liquid oxygen into the first stage.
The nominal start time for LOX loading is 6:48 p.m. That's less than 20 minutes from now.
All of the activities that have been going on today have been without any issues or concerns,
and we are expecting to have a successful spacecraft separation of
STEREO from the Delta II vehicle 25 minutes after launch occurs at 8:38 p.m.
Once again, we have a 15-minute launch opportunity tonight that closes at 8:53 p.m.