This is Delta Launch Control at T-92 minutes and counting. Operations here at Vandenberg Air Force Base
are going well this morning for the launch of the CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites aboard a Delta II launch vehicle.
Liftoff is scheduled to occur on time at 3:02 a.m. today from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
CALIPSO and CloudSat will provide new perspectives on Earth's clouds and aerosols.
The satellites will help answer questions about how clouds form and evolve, and how they affect the Earth's water supply.
Today these satellites will be launched into an orbit where they will fly just 15 seconds apart as
members of NASA's A-train, which is a constellation of several Earth-observing satellites.
The communications issue that prompted our launch scrub last week has been resolved and we
are good to go today with no technical issues being discussed. Fueling for the Delta's first stage with about 10,000 gallons of a
highly refined kerosene began earlier this afternoon and is now complete.
And loading of the liquid oxygen first stage will soon begin. The LOX loading should begin at about 1:17 a.m. Pacific time,
or at about the T-75 minute mark, and that will be completed before we go into the hold at T-20 minutes.
The countdown continues to progress smoothly this morning without technical concerns for the vehicle or the spacecraft.
Our weather for today has just recently been briefed to the launch management team and again, there are no issues on the weather front.
The weather will be cooperating with us and we are not anticipating any concerns regarding the climate.
Again, today's launch window opens at about 3:02 a.m. and it is an instantaneous window,
meaning that we have less than 1 second but we will be launching right on, right on time. Again,
no technical issues or concerns are being discussed regarding the vehicle or the spacecraft at this point.
This is the third attempt to launch the CloudSat and CALIPSO spacecraft, meaning the third attempt that
we had actually fueled the vehicle three times. This will be the third time that we've actually fueled the vehicle.
All launch managers are on their consoles here at the Mission Director's Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base and again,
no issues are being discussed. We've had a clean count so far and anticipate that to be the case through the rest of the morning.
Again, launch is on schedule for 3:02 a.m. Pacific time from Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
At T-89 minutes, 30 seconds and counting, this is Delta Launch Control.