GEORGE DILLER: From Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, this is Pegasus Launch Control at T-1 hour, 31 minutes, 49 seconds and counting.
We are on schedule for the launch of NASA's Space Technology 5, or ST5, aboard an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL
rocket. The L-1011 aircraft is currently on the ramp and has completed its pre-taxi checklist.
The taxi is going to occur in about 10 minutes at 4:40 a.m. Pacific Time. The departure from the end of runway 30 at
Vandenberg Air Force Base is scheduled for 5:04 a.m. Pacific Time. The L-1011 will proceed to a point approximately 100 miles off the coast
of the Monterey Peninsula. The deployment and launch of the Pegasus rocket is targeted to occur at 6:02 a.m. Pacific Time today.
The launch window extends until 7:20 Pacific Time this morning. That is one hour, 22 minutes and 21 seconds in duration.
The weather forecast for today is acceptable for a launch, with a 10 percent chance of not meeting the launch
weather criteria. The call to stations for the launch team and the start of the countdown was at 1:30 this morning,
about 4-1/2 hours before launch. There are no built-in holds in the countdown procedure.
The optimum drop time is targeted for 6:02 a.m., which is 4-1/2 minutes after the launch window opens.
The launch team has not worked any technical issues since the countdown began at 1:30 this morning.
And the team has just resumed with the pre-taxi operations after a pause of about half an hour.
They were about 30 minutes ahead of schedule in their operation for the taxi this morning.
They are now essentially at the point where the aircraft has started engines and is preparing for its taxi about eight
minutes from now. At T-1 hour, 29 minutes, 27 seconds and counting, this is Pegasus Launch Control.