Live coverage of the countdown and flight of a Delta 4-Heavy rocket carrying NASA’s Orion space capsule on its first test flight in Earth orbit. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter.
Mission Reports
Live coverage: NASA’s ICON satellite successfully launched
After a 24-hour delay due to poor weather, an air-launched Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket fired into orbit at 9:59 p.m. EDT Thursday (0159 GMT Friday) after release from a carrier jet at an altitude of 39,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Cape Canaveral. The Pegasus rocket carried NASA’s ICON satellite into orbit to collect measurements of the ionosphere.
Delta 4
Orion is ready to roll
The Orion spacecraft sits inside the Launch Abort System Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida awaiting its rollout to the launch pad Monday night. The spacecraft will be moved to Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for its flight test, flying aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket.