Mission managers, however, will be keeping close tabs on the same type of stiff upper-altitude winds that forced a second consecutive launch postponement Tuesday.
Potentially destructive gusts peaking at 84 knots were recorded earlier today, raising concerns about the possibility of the Atlas 3 being knocked off course or torn apart during flight tonight. Launch officials, consequently, are clinging to hopes that the winds aloft will die down during the day.
"Well just have to stay tuned to see if those folks can get lucky tonight," said Ed Priselac, a staff meteorologist with the Air Forces 45th Space Wing, which provides weather forecasting services for all launches from Floridas Space Coast.
Tonights launch attempt likely will be the third and final one for Lockheed Martin this week. Spaceport crews on Thursday will be resetting rocket-tracking and range-safety equipment for NASAs planned launch Friday of shuttle Atlantis on an International Space Station repair mission.
NASA also will have a backup launch opportunity Saturday, and if the space agency ends up exercising that option, the next available launch date for the Atlas 3 likely would be next Monday.
Lockheed Martin officials, however, still think they have a good chance to get the Atlas 3 off the ground tonight.
"If the upper-level winds die down, we think we have a good shot," said Julie Andrews, a spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin International Launch Services, which markets the Atlas family of rockets. "Through both countdowns [Monday and Tuesday], we had no problems with the launch vehicle or the spacecraft, and as I heard somebody say earlier today, practice makes perfect."
An initial launch attempt Monday was scrubbed after a crucial rocket-tracking radar broke down.
If the Atlas 3 does fly tonight, get ready for a cool view and a vicarious thrill: SPACE.com will carry a live streaming-video broadcast of the countdown and launch beginning at 4:30 p.m. EDT (20:37 GMT), and two cameras aboard the rocket are expected to provide stunning views of the trip into orbit.
Mounted on the rockets Centaur upper stage, one of the so-called "rocket-cams" will give you a view of Cape Canaveral as the Atlas 3 climbs away from its launch pad on a supersonic trip into space. Look for the first stage of the booster tumbling toward the Atlantic Ocean after small explosive charges separate it from the rest of the vehicle.
Camera No. 2 will show the bell-shaped nozzle of the rockets second-stage Centaur engine extending, and with any luck, youll see the power plant firing as the Atlas 3 lofts its payload into orbit. Extraordinary views of the blue Earth from space also are a possibility.
"The rocket-cams are something weve always wanted to do and, with a new vehicle, it just seemed like the right time," Andrews said. "The basic plan is to show the launch [from ground cameras] as we normally would, and then cut to whatever looks interesting from the rocket-cams."
Andrews and others expect stunning imagery through the first eight minutes of flight or all the way into space.
Countdown to the third launch attempt will began at 8:47 a.m. EDT (12:47 GMT), but the real action wont begin until a couple of key milestones come up this afternoon:
- At 2:37 p.m. EDT (18:37 GMT), the hulking Mobile Service Tower at Cape Canaverals complex 36-A will be moved away from the Atlas 3 as launch preparations continue. The huge gantry provides work platforms for rocket technicians as well as weather protection for the multimillion-dollar Atlas 3.
- At 3:32 p.m. EDT (19:32 GMT), engineers will begin fueling the vehicle for launch. That operation involves pumping liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the vehicles single-engine Centaur upper stage as well as liquid oxygen into the Atlas first stage, which is powered by a Russian RD 180 engine.
The fueling operation will continue until the final minutes before launch, and countdown updates will be posted this afternoon and evening on SPACE.coms "Next Launch" page.
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