A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket will deliver the U.S. Air Force’s tenth Wideband Global SATCOM communications satellite to a supersynchronous transfer orbit around 37 minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral.
Liftoff is scheduled during a launch window opening at 6:56 p.m. EDT (2256 GMT) Friday. The window extends to 9:05 p.m. EDT (0105 GMT).
Originally expected to take off Saturday, the launch of SpaceX’s first operational Crew Dragon mission was delayed to Sunday because of expected high winds at the Kennedy Space Center and weather off-shore where the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage will attempt to land on a SpaceX droneship. The company plans to re-use the booster for the next Crew Dragon flight.
A launch pad camera captures the launch of the Falcon 9 and NASA’s exoplanet hunting space telescope TESS. The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 40 on April 18.
A collection of pad photos from the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket flight to deploy the Orbital ATK Cygnus commercial cargo-delivery spacecraft for the International Space Station.