Live coverage: Atlas 5 countdown and launch journal

CAPE CANAVERAL — Good weather for launching a rocket is forecast for Cape Canaveral and the Space Coast on Thursday morning when a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 is scheduled to take flight.

Meteorologists with the 45th Weather Squadron at the Cape give 80 percent odds of acceptable conditions for the launch at 8:37 a.m. EDT (1237 GMT).

“On launch day, mid-level dry air remains over Central Florida resulting in favorable weather conditions,” Air Force meteorologists said today

“There will be a slight chance of a coastal shower and weak southerly wind flow with gusts in the 10 to 12 knot range during the window. The primary concern for launch is cumulus clouds.”

Conditions are expected to include scattered low- and high-level clouds, good visibility and a temperature of 82 degrees F.

The rocket will be rolled vertically from its assembly building to the pad at Complex 41 on Tuesday morning.

“For MLP roll on Tuesday, an increase of moisture will bring a slight chance of a morning coastal shower,” forecasters said

For the backup launch opportunity on Friday morning, the outlook also calls for an 80 percent chance of favorable weather then, too.

“On Friday, similar weather conditions will persist bringing a chance of an early morning coastal shower. In the event of a 24-hour delay, the primary concern is cumulus clouds,” the weather team says.

The launch is being performed on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office to deliver the NROL-61 satellite payload into orbit. The rocket will head eastward along a flight azimuth of 99 degrees.

Falcon 9 counting down to launch and landing at Cape Canaveral

Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral with SpaceX’s ninth operational Dragon resupply flight to the International Space Station. 

01:10

The SpaceX launch team is go for fueling of the Falcon 9 rocket with super-chilled liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellants.

01:07

Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX's vice president of flight reliability, reports the company's management team is go for propellant loading.

01:06

Coming up on several major milestones in the countdown, beginning with a poll of the launch team at T-minus 38 minutes and the start of propellant loading at T-minus 35 minutes.

00:52

The International Space Station will be soaring 254 miles over the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Newfoundland at the time of tonight's launch.

00:51 T-minus 55 minutes

Tonight's launch is timed for exactly 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT), the exact moment necessary for the Dragon spacecraft to reach the International Space Station.

00:39 NASA TV coverage underway

00:26

T-minus 1 hour, 20 minutes. The U.S. Air Force Eastern Range has finished hold-fire checks with the Falcon 9 rocket.

The Falcon 9 countdown is significantly changed with the upgraded version of the rocket.

While radio checks and flight termination system tests are complete, fueling of the rocket with its propellant mixture of RP-1 rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen will not begin until about a half-hour before the launch, instead of at about T-minus 3 hours on earlier Falcon 9s.

The upgraded Falcon 9 consumes a chilled propellant mix that allows engineers to load additional fuel into the rocket. The cryogenic liquid oxygen is chilled closer to its freezing point, from minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit to minus 340 degrees, while the RP-1 fuel is cooled from a more standard room temperature of about 70 degrees Fahrenheit to 20 degrees, according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

The change essentially permits the volume of the Falcon 9 fuel tanks, which are also slightly enlarged on this launch, to hold more mass of propellant, giving the rocket more performance.

The Merlin engines on the first and second stages will also produce more thrust. At liftoff, the nine-engine first stage will generate 1.5 million pounds of thrust, up from 1.3 million force-pounds on the Falcon 9's previous version.

The second stage engine is also modified with a bigger nozzle, and the stage separation system includes a new pusher device to help guide the first stage as it is jettisoned, ensuring no recontact.

Taken together, the modifications allow the Falcon 9 carry heavier satellites into orbit and still attempt booster landings on the coast or on an ocean-going barge. Today's launch will target a landing back at Cape Canaveral, the second time such a return-to-launch-site maneuver has been attempted.

00:19

All launch commit weather criteria are currently observed "go" at Cape Canaveral.

00:15

Tonight's landing attempt at Cape Canaveral will come less than 10 minutes after liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket. It will be the second time SpaceX has attempted a booster landing onshore.

The first descent over Florida's Space Coast in December ended with a smooth touchdown at Landing Zone 1, a former Atlas missile facility a few miles south of the Falcon 9's Complex 40 launch pad.

SpaceX is three-for-eight in first stage landing attempts on a barge offshore. The experimental landings are part of SpaceX's rocket recovery and reuse plan.

22:43

SpaceX installed time-sensitive cargo into the pressurized cabin of a Dragon resupply capsule Sunday in the final hours before liftoff with nearly 2.5 tons of experiments and a critical docking system to welcome piloted commercial spaceships to the International Space Station.

Using a pristine, climate-controlled access port, SpaceX technicians added the "late load" cargo into the Dragon spacecraft while the Falcon 9 rocket sat horizontally at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad. 

The ground crew then erected the 213-foot-tall (65-meter) Falcon 9 rocket vertical at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad just after 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) for final preflight checks and fueling.

The Dragon spacecraft perched on top of the slender, two-stage rocket is crammed with nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies. The spaceship will take a two-day trip to the space station, and the research lab's robotic arm will grapple the approaching Dragon capsule around 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) Wednesday.

The equipment loaded inside the Dragon's internal compartment includes experiments aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of DNA sequencing in orbit, studying the heart's response to microgravity, and investigating how to better protect computers from radiation in space.

18:55 Weather still 90% go

Forecasters continue to predict a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather for tonight's instantaneous launch window at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT).

The only concerns are with the cumulus cloud and flight through precipitation rules. Mostly clear skies are in the official launch forecast issued by the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron.

Winds should be out of the southeast at 10 to 15 mph, and the temperature at launch time is predicted to be about 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

Air Force and NASA safety authorities plan to evacuate a large section of the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 area, including both launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the press site, due to risk that onshore winds could blow the Dragon capsule back toward land in the event of an abort.

SpaceX added an abort function to cargo missions after a Falcon 9 launch failure last year destroyed a Dragon supply ship. In the event of a similar mishap now, the Dragon capsule could attempt to separate from the Falcon 9 and deploy its parachutes in order to save its cargo.

The winds forecast tonight could send the descending capsule over KSC property, prompting the evacuation. Officials are concerned the capsule's tanks of toxic in-space maneuvering propellant -- hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide -- could rupture on impact, even under parachutes.

Safety officials routinely evacuate some facilities for launch operations, but this is the first time such a large section of KSC including the VAB and press site have been cleared for a launch.

18:55 Weather still 90% go

Forecasters continue to predict a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather for tonight's instantaneous launch window at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT).

The only concerns are with the cumulus cloud and flight through precipitation rules. Mostly clear skies are in the official launch forecast issued by the U.S. Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron.

Winds should be out of the southeast at 10 to 15 mph, and the temperature at launch time is predicted to be about 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

Air Force and NASA safety authorities plan to evacuate a large section of the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39 area, including both launch pads, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the press site, due to risk that onshore winds could blow the Dragon capsule back toward land in the event of an abort.

SpaceX added an abort function to cargo missions after a Falcon 9 launch failure last year destroyed a Dragon supply ship. In the event of a similar mishap now, the Dragon capsule could attempt to separate from the Falcon 9 and deploy its parachutes in order to save its cargo.

The winds forecast tonight could send the descending capsule over KSC property, prompting the evacuation. Officials are concerned the capsule's tanks of toxic in-space maneuvering propellant -- hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide -- could rupture on impact, even under parachutes.

Safety officials routinely evacuate some facilities for launch operations, but this is the first time such a large section of KSC including the VAB and press site have been cleared for a launch.

12:17 Launch timeline

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will go from Cape Canaveral to low Earth orbit in 10 minutes Monday with a Dragon capsule heading for the International Space Station carrying nearly 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments.

Liftoff is set for 0445:29 GMT (12:45:29 p.m. EDT) Monday from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.

It will be the 27th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, and the seventh launch of the booster’s latest configuration with higher-thrust engines and densified super-cold propellants. The launch will be the ninth of least 26 resupply missions under contract to SpaceX to depart for the space station.

See the complete timeline.

11:49 Weather forecast favorable

Forecasters predict mostly clear skies and light winds at the surface and aloft for Monday’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, favorable conditions for the booster’s liftoff and landing at Cape Canaveral.

The official launch weather forecast released Friday by the U.S. Air Force’s 45th Weather Squadron calls for a 90 percent of acceptable conditions for liftoff at 12:45:29 a.m. EDT (0445:29 GMT) Monday.

A weather axis draped over Central Florida will lift north over the weekend, setting up generally good weather Monday.

http://spaceflightnow.com

NASA's Next Mars Rover Progresses Toward 2020 Launch

Get to know our next Mars rover!

Mission experts are showing you around the test-ready Mars Yard and the Mars 2020 rover drilling test

After an extensive review process and passing a major development milestone, NASA is ready to proceed with final design and construction of its next Mars rover, currently targeted to launch in summer of 2020 and arrive on the Red Planet in February 2021.

The Mars 2020 rover will investigate a region of Mars where the ancient environment may have been favorable for microbial life, probing the Martian rocks for evidence of past life. Throughout its investigation, it will collect samples of soil and rock, and cache them on the surface for potential return to Earth by a future mission.

"The Mars 2020 rover is the first step in a potential multi-mission campaign to return carefully selected and sealed samples of Martian rocks and soil to Earth," said Geoffrey Yoder, acting associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "This mission marks a significant milestone in NASA's Journey to Mars -- to determine whether life has ever existed on Mars, and to advance our goal of sending humans to the Red Planet."

To reduce risk and provide cost savings, the 2020 rover will look much like its six-wheeled, one-ton predecessor, Curiosity, but with an array of new science instruments and enhancements to explore Mars as never before. For example, the rover will conduct the first investigation into the usability and availability of Martian resources, including oxygen, in preparation for human missions.

Mars 2020 will carry an entirely new subsystem to collect and prepare Martian rocks and soil samples that includes a coring drill on its arm and a rack of sample tubes. About 30 of these sample tubes will be deposited at select locations for return on a potential future sample-retrieval mission. In laboratories on Earth, specimens from Mars could be analyzed for evidence of past life on Mars and possible health hazards for future human missions.

MARS 2020'S MOXIE LABORATORY AND PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

The MOXIE investigation on NASA's Mars 2020 rover will extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. In this image, MOXIE Principal Investigator Michael Hecht, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, is in the MOXIE laboratory at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Two science instruments mounted on the rover's robotic arm will be used to search for signs of past life and determine where to collect samples by analyzing the chemical, mineral, physical and organic characteristics of Martian rocks. On the rover's mast, two science instruments will provide high-resolution imaging and three types of spectroscopy for characterizing rocks and soil from a distance, also helping to determine which rock targets to explore up close.

A suite of sensors on the mast and deck will monitor weather conditions and the dust environment, and a ground-penetrating radar will assess sub-surface geologic structure.

The Mars 2020 rover will use the same sky crane landing system as Curiosity, but will have the ability to land in more challenging terrain with two enhancements, making more rugged sites eligible as safe landing candidates.

"By adding what's known as range trigger, we can specify where we want the parachute to open, not just at what velocity we want it to open," said Allen Chen, Mars 2020 entry, descent and landing lead at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "That shrinks our landing area by nearly half."

Terrain-relative navigation on the new rover will use onboard analysis of downward-looking images taken during descent, matching them to a map that indicates zones designated unsafe for landing.

"As it is descending, the spacecraft can tell whether it is headed for one of the unsafe zones and divert to safe ground nearby," said Chen. "With this capability, we can now consider landing areas with unsafe zones that previously would have disqualified the whole area. Also, we can land closer to a specific science destination, for less driving after landing."

There will be a suite of cameras and a microphone that will capture the never-before-seen or heard imagery and sounds of the entry, descent and landing sequence. Information from the descent cameras and microphone will provide valuable data to assist in planning future Mars landings, and make for thrilling video.

"Nobody has ever seen what a parachute looks like as it is opening in the Martian atmosphere," said JPL's David Gruel, assistant flight system manager for the Mars 2020 mission. "So this will provide valuable engineering information."

Microphones have flown on previous missions to Mars, including NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander in 2008, but never have actually been used on the surface of the Red Planet.

"This will be a great opportunity for the public to hear the sounds of Mars for the first time, and it could also provide useful engineering information," said Mars 2020 Deputy Project Manager Matt Wallace of JPL.

Once a mission receives preliminary approval, it must go through four rigorous technical and programmatic reviews - known as Key Decision Points (KDP) - to proceed through the phases of development prior to launch. Phase A involves concept and requirements definition, Phase B is preliminary design and technology development, Phase C is final design and fabrication, and Phase D is system assembly, testing and launch. Mars 2020 has just passed its KDP-C milestone.

"Since Mars 2020 is leveraging the design and some spare hardware from Curiosity, a significant amount of the mission's heritage components have already been built during Phases A and B," said George Tahu, Mars 2020 program executive at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "With the KDP to enter Phase C completed, the project is proceeding with final design and construction of the new systems, as well as the rest of the heritage elements for the mission."

The Mars 2020 mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. Driven by scientific discovery, the program currently includes two active rovers and three NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars. NASA also plans to launch a stationary Mars lander in 2018, InSight, to study the deep interior of Mars.

JPL manages the Mars 2020 project and the Mars Exploration Program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Mars 2020, visit:

http://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020

Did NASA deliberately cut a live feed of a UFO?

Is NASA trying to cover up a UFO sighting?

Space conspiracy theorists are accusing NASA of cutting a live stream from the International Space Station just as an unidentified object comes into view.

Theories began swirling on YouTube earlier this week after YouTube user Streepcap1 posted a video of the stream on July 9.

In the clip, a bright object is seen slowly falling into view, before the screen flashes that the there are technical problems with the feed. While Streepcap1 notes that the object may not be alien life, the user points out that the feed stopping is strange.

“This could well be a meteor or the like,” Streetcap1 says in the caption. “What made it interesting was the camera cut off when the UFO seemed to stop.”

So, just what is NASA hiding? NASA spokesman Daniel Huot told CNET, that the live feed was not deliberately cut. Huot said cameras mounted on the International Space Station are controlled automatically.

"The station regularly passes out of range of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites used to send and receive video, voice and telemetry from the station," Huot told CNET. "For video, whenever we lose signal the cameras will show a blue screen or a preset video slate."

But people on social media aren't buying NASA's insistence that the feed wasn't deliberately cut. On Twitter, some noted that cutting the live stream was very "suspicious," while others just want to see the aliens NASA may or may not know about.

It is always suspicious when NASA seemingly cuts the feed when a suspicious anomaly shows up...

What are the... https://t.co/ktKjTclYIp

— Brian Earthwatcher (@cryptodesk) 13 de julio de 2016

*@NASA show us the aliens please.

— wifi? (@kurtcuffy) 13 de julio de 2016

Another UFO -- another feed cut --Another reason to question why NASA always has a problem with the neighbors... https://t.co/lsEf0mhPRN

— Clyde Lewis (@ClydeLewis) 13 de julio de 2016

In the comments section under the YouTube video others noted that the object could be space junk.

Guess we'll never know?
http://www.floridatoday.com

Live coverage: New space station crew counting down to liftoff

Live coverage of the Expedition 48 mission on the International Space Station

he three-person crew has boarded the Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft at Launch Pad No. 1 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome for liftoff at 0136:41 GMT (9:36:41 p.m. EDT).

The crew is led by Anatoly Ivanishin, a 47-year-old retired Russian Air Force fighter pilot who is making is second trip into space. Ivanishin was selected a cosmonaut in 2003 and completed initial training in 2005, then spent 165 days on the International Space Station in 2011 and 2012.

Ivanishin will occupy the capsule's center seat, with Japanese flight engineer Takuya Onishi and NASA astronaut Kate Rubins flanking him in the left and right couches.

Onishi will be the primary flight engineer, assisting Ivanishin with control duties during the launch and docking, which is set for 0412:02 GMT (12:12:02 a.m. EDT) Saturday.

Making his first spaceflight, the 40-year-old Onishi will become the 11th Japanese citizen to fly in space. Before his selection as an astronaut in 2009, Onishi was a Boeing 767 co-pilot for All Nippon Airways. He earned a Bachelor's degree in aeronautical and space engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1998.

NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, 37, is also launching on her first mission into orbit.

Born in Farmington, Connecticutt, and raised in Napa, California, Rubins received a Bachelor of Science degree in Molecular Biology from the University of California, San Diego, in 1999 and a Ph.D. in Cancer Biology in 2005 from Stanford University Medical School's Biochemistry Department and Microbiology and Immunology Department.

She worked for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and developed the first model of smallpox infection. Rubins later joined the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT, traveling to Africa to research therapies for the Ebola, Marbug and Lassa Fever viruses.

The trio are scheduled to spend 115 days in orbit -- and 113 days on the space station -- before coming back to Earth on Oct. 30.

http://spaceflightnow.com