This is Delta Launch Control at T-92 minutes and counting.
Operations here at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California are going well for our next launch
attempt of the CALIPSO/CloudSat spacecraft aboard a Boeing Delta II launch vehicle, again from
Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Space Launch Complex 2.
Our launch time today is at 3:02 and 16 seconds a.m. Pacific time. And again, this is the, the
fourth attempt that we've made to launch this spacecraft this week.
The first attempt happened exactly a week ago, and we've had a week's worth of attempts,
unsuccessfully, because of weather and a couple of technical issues that we've been addressing.
But all that's behind us now, and the weather is reporting in, the weather forecasters are
reporting in to us right now that we're having, we have a clean bill of health from them and we're
looking at a zero-percent chance of violation due to
any weather issues that might arise.
It will be a little bit foggy this morning from the launch complex though as the rocket lifts off.
It will be lifting off in the fog, but there are no constraints because of fog and all the other
issues have been addressed for weather concern, so weather is not going to be a topic of discussion
for us this morning. The technical issues have been addressed, as well. The issue with the
temperature patch on the nitrogen sphere on the second stage was fully addressed by engineering
community yesterday and they it lifted again this morning when they were doing the loading, and
that temperature patch has, in fact, proved to be fine. And we had to do no extra work regarding
that. We just had to understand the situation. No other technical issues are being addressed by the launch
team this morning. We're in good shape for the launch of the Delta II, again at 3:02 and 16 seconds
a.m. Pacific time. NASA's Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation, or
CALIPSO, and the CloudSat satellites are being set for launch this morning. Together, the CALIPSO and CloudSat will provide new
perspectives on Earth's clouds and aerosols and answer questions about how they form, evolve,
affect our water supply, the climate, weather and air quality.
They will be launched into an orbit where they will fly just about 15 seconds apart as members of
NASA's "A-train," which is a constellation of several Earth-observing satellites. Fueling of the
Delta's first stage occurred late yesterday afternoon. We loaded about 10,000 gallons of the highly
refined kerosene and that has been complete. Coming up next will be the loading of the liquid
oxygen into the first stage, and we have a poll that will be coming up in the next few minutes to
validate the readiness of the launch team to do that, and the loading should be occurring at about
15 minutes from now, at about the T-75 minute mark. And that will be complete before we go into our
hold at T-20 minutes. Also, at this time, the second stage helium and nitrogen pressurization is
reporting complete. Again, our countdown continues to progress very smoothly without any technical
concerns being addressed by the launch team. The weather is not going to be an issue of discussion
this morning, either. By yesterday afternoon, the tower was rolled back from the Space Launch
Complex 2 and we began the terminal phase of our countdown at the T-150 mark, at about 11 o'clock
last night. So again, everything continues to look well. We're not working any issues, looking
forward to the LOX loading to begin at about 15 minutes or so, and that will be on schedule. At
T-88 minutes and counting, this is Delta Launch Control.