This is the launch timeline to be followed by the Atlas 5 rocket’s ascent into orbit from Cape Canaveral with the GOES-S weather satellite. Launch is scheduled for Thursday during a two-hour window opening at 5:02 p.m. EST (2202 GMT).
The 197-foot-tall rocket will arc to the east from Florida’s Space Coast on its second flight of the year. It will be the 76th Atlas 5 launch overall since United Launch Alliance’s workhorse rocket debuted in August 2002.
The timeline below ends with the conclusion of the primary mission, the deployment of the GOES-S satellite into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit.
It’s Steve Clarke’s job to merge the goals of space scientists with NASA’s strategic plans for exploring the solar system, two factors which are not always in lock-step, as the space agency seeks to return humans to the moon, and eventually send astronauts to Mars.
The United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy rocket, standing 235 feet tall and weighing 1.6 million pounds fully fueled, unleashes 2.1 million pounds of thrust from the three RS-68A main engines at 1:51 p.m. EDT (1751 GMT) today to launch from Cape Canaveral on NROL-37.