WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2009

It is launch day at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for the Delta 4-Heavy rocket carrying a clandestine reconnaissance satellite for the U.S. intelligence community. Liftoff of America's largest unmanned rocket is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. EST this evening.

Watch this page for live updates throughout the countdown.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009

The classified launch of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket has been rescheduled for 7:45 p.m. EST on Wednesday evening.

Today's launch opportunity was called off about 12 hours before liftoff time to repair damaged insulation on the rocket.

"During final walk down inspections, some minor damage to the spray-on foam insulation for the interstage doors was discovered. This insulation will be repaired prior to flight, but the work will not be completed in time to support the roll of the mobile service tower as planned for today," the Air Force said.

1605 GMT (11:05 a.m. EST)

Air Force meteorologists are predicting ideal weather conditions for a Wednesday liftoff of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. There is a 90 percent chance of acceptable conditions, with ground-level winds posing only a slight concern.

"The front that stalled to the south of Cape Canaveral yesterday returned back over the area as a warm front this morning. An upper level trough will enter the Southeast U.S. this evening, pushing the surface front though Central Florida again as a cold front," the latest forecast says.

"The front will cause thick layered clouds, precipitation, and windy conditions early this evening. This weather will clear overnight, and high pressure will build in from the west, bringing favorable weather for launch Wednesday evening. There is only a slight concern for a violation of the ground wind (54 ft) Launch Commit Criteria."

The forecast calls for scattered cirrus clouds at 25,000 feet, 7 miles of visibility, a temperature between 52-53 degrees F and northerly winds from 010 degrees at 8 peaking to 14 knots.

1255 GMT (7:55 a.m. EST)

SCRUB. This evening's launch of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket carrying a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office has been postponed by 24 hours.

Liftoff is now targeted to occur on Wednesday evening.

MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2009
2104 GMT (4:04 p.m. EST)

Launch of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket on Tuesday is scheduled to occur at 7:49 p.m. EST (0049 GMT), officials just announced.

The available launch window will last about four hours, giving an extensive amount of time to work any technical problems or wait out the weather and still have a chance of getting the rocket off the ground Tuesday night.

We will provide live reports throughout the countdown on this page.

1745 GMT (12:45 p.m. EST)

Cloudy skies, rain showers and gusty winds will be the main weather concerns during Tuesday evening's launch attempt, forecasters reported today. The outlook predicts a 60 percent chance that weather will delay the launch.

"Cold frontal boundary which passed through the area this morning will stall over the southern half of Florida. In addition, a strong upper level disturbance moving across the southeast U.S. will induce low pressure along the stalled front, resulting in the front returning northward as a warm front. Low pressure will move quickly across Florida tomorrow evening which will again cause the front to move south as a cold front. Thick layered clouds and precipitation and windy conditions will be a concern until the entire system moves through late tomorrow night and into Wednesday. There remains model inconsistency so further changes can be expected," the official weather forecast says.

The forecast calls for broken decks of clouds at 5,000 and 10,000 feet, overcast conditions at 20,000 feet, 7 miles of visibility, a temperature between 60-62 degrees F and northwesterly winds from 300 degrees at 15 peaking to 22 knots.

If the launch is postponed for some reason, the odds of acceptable weather are much better on Wednesday evening. There's just a 10 percent chance of high winds being a problem on the backup launch date.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2009

America's heavy-lift rocket, the towering white and orange triple-barreled booster responsible for launching vital security and intelligence satellites, will make another of its spectacular ascents Tuesday evening from Cape Canaveral.

Liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket is scheduled to occur sometime between 7 p.m. and midnight EST, but the exact timing won't be revealed until Monday afternoon.

In fact, most of the details surrounding the launch will never be publicly announced because of the classified satellite payload riding atop the 23-story rocket.

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, the secretive government agency that designs and operates the country's spy satellites, is using the Delta 4-Heavy to send a large spacecraft into orbit. The NRO doesn't disclose the identities of the satellites it is launching or what the craft will do.

Officials say a news blackout will begin about 8 minutes after liftoff, soon after the rocket's upper stage ignites and the aluminum nose cone shrouding the payload is jettisoned. The rest of the hush-hush flight is expected to remain a mystery, as far as the public is concerned.

"The flow of official information about this mission will cease at the point of payload fairing separation. No further comment about the status of the mission will be made after this milestone," the Air Force's pre-launch news media advisory said.

The Delta 4-Heavy rocket was rolled to launch pad 37B in late March to start the pre-flight campaign of readying the mammoth booster. Its sophisticated cargo was brought out to the seaside pad a few months later.

Technicians and engineers have spent a long time preparing for this undoubtedly high-dollar launch. It was one of the missions included in the original batch of launches awarded to the Delta 4 a decade ago. Now, all appears set to go Tuesday evening.

The mobile service gantry will move away from the rocket by mid-morning, clearing the way for the countdown to commence. The multi-hour fueling operations will run from early afternoon until after the sun goes down.

The Heavy will be making its third flight following a demonstration test launch conducted in December 2004 and the first operational mission in November 2007 that orbited a missile-warning satellite for the U.S. military.

"Both of those were very momentous launches. There were some very senior Air Force and Defense Department folks who characterized Heavy Demo as the most challenging U.S. space launch since the first shuttle flight. It's a fully cryogenic vehicle, three different bodies. It was definitely a major accomplishment to get through that demo flight," the Air Force's former Delta commander said in previous interview.

The test flight, which carried a simulated payload, uncovered an unexpected problem with vapor bubbles in the booster cores' liquid oxygen fuel lines that caused all three main engines to shut down a few seconds early and resulted in the final orbit falling short of the target. Hardware and computer software changes were implemented to prevent a reoccurrence on future launches.

The fixes worked and the Heavy achieved a "spot-on" orbital delivery of its first real payload during the 2007 operational debut.

The Heavy is the biggest booster in the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle family of rockets. It is capable of carrying the military's largest and heaviest payloads that once relied upon the now-retired Titan rocket fleet.

"I really don't think you can say the EELV program has come of age until you can demonstrate a milestone of launching an operational Heavy," the commander said.

The Heavy vehicle is created by taking three Common Booster Cores -- the liquid hydrogen-fueled motor that forms a Delta 4-Medium's first stage -- and strapping them together to form a triple-body rocket, and then adding an upper stage.

"Heavy is kind of the centerpiece of the family, and being able to get through that (operational debut) really was rewarding. I think it was important to the nation and demonstrated our capability to stay on the performance spectrum of what we need to launch our national security satellites. It was a huge deal."

Both previous Heavy launches saw the upper stage perform three firings in missions that targeted circular orbits at geosynchronous altitude 22,300 miles above the planet. The Air Force has said in the past that Tuesday's launch, which is known as the NROL-26 mission, will be another three-burn ascent profile that follows a launch timeline similar to the one demonstrated during the 2004 test flight. That would mean the upper stage performs its first two maneuvers in quick succession, then takes a long orbital coast before delivering a final boost and releasing the payload to complete the launch.

The launch is being dedicated to the memories of the NRO's Dennis Fitzgerald and ULA's Ken Liptak.

Fitzgerald worked in the intelligence community for 33 years and served as the agency's principal deputy director at the time of his retirement in 2007. He continued to support the organization he loved until his death on December 31, 2008.

"Dennis Fitzgerald was a superb engineer, manager, leader, mentor and friend. He was a role model for all of us in his passionate dedication to engineering and acquisition excellence, and the protection of our national security," the NRO's director recently wrote. "His legacy lives on in the systems he put on orbit and the service he inspired in the NRO workforce."

Liptak began his career with McDonnell Douglas in the early 1990s as a contract manager for the Delta 2 program and spent most of his career at the launch sites. After ULA was formed in 2006, he was the business team leader for the launch sites on both coasts.

"Ken's dedication and innovative approach leave a legacy at ULA that will be felt for years to come and his style, his smile, his wit and his genuine caring will be missed by all who worked with him," the ULA dedication reads.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2009

The early weather projections for Tuesday night's launch of the Delta 4-Heavy rocket carrying a classified reconnaissance satellite calls for breezy and chilly conditions at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Meteorologists issued their initial forecast this morning and put the odds of acceptable launch weather at 70 percent. Gusty winds at pad 37B will be the main concern.

A mostly dry weather front is predicted pass through the Central Florida region on Tuesday, bringing increased ground winds in its wake.

The forecast calls for a few low clouds at 5,000 feet and a few high clouds at 20,000 feet, 10 miles of visibility, a temperature between 50-52 degrees F and westerly winds from 290 degrees at 12 peaking to 18 knots.

Based on that wind direction, the launch limit is 20 knots.

It will be the first rocket flight of 2009 from Cape Canaveral or any other global launch site. Liftoff is anticipated sometime between 7 p.m. and midnight EST. The exact launch time won't be revealed until Monday afternoon as part of the security restrictions surrounding this military mission.

The Delta 4-Heavy is America's largest unmanned rocket currently in service. The giant vehicle is created by taking three Common Booster Cores -- the liquid hydrogen-fueled motor that forms a Delta 4-Medium's first stage -- and strapping them together to form a triple-body rocket, and then adding an upper stage.

The rocket will deploy into space a top-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The NRO is the government agency responsible for the country's fleet of spy satellites.