BY JUSTIN RAY

Follow the countdown and launch of the Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket with a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload. Reload this page for the very latest on the mission.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2001

The third rocket launch in the past month for the U.S. government's spy satellite agency -- the National Reconnaissance Office -- is slated for blastoff Wednesday evening from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

A Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket will launch sometime between 10:15 and 11:15 p.m. EDT (0215-0315 GMT Thursday). The exact planned liftoff time remains secret.

The Atlas will fly a typical trek to geosynchronous transfer orbit to deploy its clandestine cargo about 29 minutes after launch.

Launch Weather Officer Johhny Weems says there is a 90 percent chance of good weather on Wednesday, as well as Thursday and Friday should the mission slip for some reason. Ground winds and isolated showers will be the concerns all three days.

"Strengthening high pressure aloft coupled with a strong surface high pressure ridge axis across the Eastern U.S. will cause a period of no significant rain, mild temperatures, and breezy conditions across Central Florida Wednesday through Friday," Weems said in his forecast issued Tuesday. "The major weather concern the next few days will be strong northeast winds; occasionally gusting in excess of 35 knots above the surface during the day Tuesday & Wednesday."

The launch forecast calls for scattered low level clouds at 3,000 feet with tops at 5,000 feet and 3-to-4/8ths sky coverage, visibility of 7 miles, northeasterly winds 15 to 20 knots, a temperature of 76 degrees F and a relative humidity of 80 percent.

Given the heightened level of security at the Cape, the flow of information is extremely restricted for this launch. We will update this page as best as possible during the final hours of the countdown and launch on Wednesday.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2001

The Atlas 2AS rocket and its classified payload remain scheduled for launch Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. A spokeswoman said this afternoon that there are no technical issues being addressed with the rocket and the weather is 90 percent favorable.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2001

A classified cargo believed to be some sort of communications spacecraft will be propelled into geosynchronous transfer orbit this week by a Lockheed Martin Atlas rocket.

Liftoff of the Atlas 2AS vehicle is slated for Wednesday evening from pad 36B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Air Force, which governs this mission, hasn't announced the target launch time, saying only that the blastoff will happen sometime between 10:15 and 11:15 p.m. EDT (0215-0315 GMT Thursday).

In keeping with the tradition of naming these classified Atlas launches after a constellation, this flight is dubbed Aquila -- the Eagle Constellation.

Experts suspect the rocket is carrying the next in a series of data relay spacecraft. Such satellites are used to beam reconnaissance imagery and data from the National Reconnaissance Office's fleet of spy satellites back to Earth.

Another possible identity of the cargo is a signals intelligence satellite capable of eavesdropping on communication transmissions from orbit.

Publicly released information indicates the Atlas will deliver the craft into a geosynchronous transfer orbit with a low point, or perigee, or 147.9 nautical miles, a high point, or apogee, of 20,246.4 nautical miles with an inclination of 26.5 degrees to the equator.

The launch will employ the Minimum Residual Shutdown mission profile in which the Centaur engines will fire until all fuel is consumed. This will allow the payload to be injected into the highest-energy transfer orbit as possible, reducing the amount of velocity change the satellite will later have to perform. However, there is a ceiling imposed on the Centaur of achieving an apogee no higher than 23,761 nautical miles.

The craft would later use its onboard kick motor to achieve a circular perch in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above Earth. At that altitude, the satellite's velocity matches the rotation of the Earth, allowing the craft to be fixed above one spot of the world. That specific location remains classified, however.

It will be the third National Reconnaissance Office payload launched in the last month following an Atlas 2AS mission on September 8 and a Titan 4B rocket flight last Friday, both from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Watch this page for continuing updates throughout the week and complete live coverage of the countdown and launch.