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24.03.2015
The U.S. Air Force’s ninth Global Positioning System IIF satellite, GPS IIF-9, is mated to its Delta IV booster inside the Mobile Service Tower at Launch Complex 37.
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The Air Force and United Launch Alliance this week hope to make a rocket launch a highlight for local students and others spending spring break on the Space Coast.
Managers on Tuesday are expected to give the go-ahead for a Delta IV rocket to proceed toward a 2:36 p.m. Wednesday blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with a Global Positioning System satellite.
Early forecasts predict an 80 percent chance of weather good enough to permit a liftoff during the 18-minute window at Launch Complex 37, with a small chance that rain or clouds could force a delay.
Some morning coastal showers are expected to clear by launch time.
The mission is the latest to upgrade the GPS constellation, a military system that many civilians and businesses rely on for everything from driving directions to the timing of financial transactions.
The satellite called GPS IIF-9 is the ninth in a series of 12 built by The Boeing Co. that the Air Force expects to have fully deployed by early next year.
It's the first of three GPS launches planned this year, after four last year. It's the last of the this generation of GPS spacecraft scheduled to fly on a Delta IV rocket, with ULA's Atlas V assigned to handle the remainder.
Launch teams today completed a mission dress rehearsal. A readiness review follows Tuesday.
Before sunrise on Wednesday, a 330-foot service tower is scheduled to roll back a short distance to reveal the Delta IV on its pad.
Aided by two strap-on solid rocket boosters, the 206-foot rocket will generate more than one million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
The mission will be the 29th by a Delta IV, and the first since a heavy-lift version of the rocket put NASA's Orion exploration capsule in orbit for a first test flight in December.
If weather or technical systems don't cooperate Wednesday, forecasters anticipate 70 percent odds of acceptable conditions the next day.
Quelle: Florida Today
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Quelle: ULA
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Update: 25.03.2015
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Quelle: ULA
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Update: 20.45 MEZ / Erfolgreicher Start von Delta-4
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Quelle: ULA
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ULA-Launch-Frams:
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Quelle: ULA
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