Video: Preparing Delta 2 and SMAP for flight

The weather outlook is 80 percent favorable for launch of the Delta 2 rocket early Thursday morning from California, with cloud thickness posing the only worry, meteorologists report.

This narrated video clip shows NOAA’s Deep Space Climate Observatory being readied for launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

From weather forecasting to agricultural benefits, a new NASA mission launching this week will provide unprecedented resolution, accuracy and coverage of soil moisture on a world-wide basis every three days for the next three years.