If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That seems to be the motto for the United Launch Alliance, who are currently on their fifth attempt to launch a Delta IV rocket to deploy satellites for the US Air Force. The rocket was originally scheduled to launch last Wednesday, but was scrubbed due to an equipment issue. The launch was also scrubbed on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday because of unfavorable weather at Cape Canaveral. The launch window today (Monday) will open at 6:43 pm EDT. At the time of this writing, the launch is still a go and the weather is 60%.
The rocket will be delivering the first two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellites which will allow for more accurate tracking of manmade objects orbiting Earth. The second set of two satellites in the GSSAP program will launch next year.
Also being launched today is a satellite for the Air Force’s Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space (ANGELS) which will help provide information about the environment around space assets. During its one year mission, it will test maneuvering techniques above geosynchronous Earth orbit and has sensors to detect, track, and characterize objects in space.
The launch and surrounding events will be streamed live from 6-10 pm EDT, courtesy of Spaceflight Now. You can check it out right here! If this webcast is not working for whatever reason, you can view the launch here.