Category: Launch

Courtesy United Launch Alliance

 NASA’s MAVEN Launch Blog originates today inside Hangar AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida just down the beach from Space Launch Complex 41 where the Mars-bound spacecraft stands ready for launch. AE, as NASA folks call it, traces its history back to before astronauts flew. It was built in 1959 and has seen numerous modifications. It houses a mission director’s center and three Launch Vehicle Data Centers all complete with dozens of consoles that keep the launch teams and support staff connected in terms of data and voice communications. NASA’s Launch Services Program uses AE in day-to-day business.

The hangar also has a high bay and clean room that was used to process mission hardware including the Wake Shield Facility that flew on space shuttle Columbia on STS-80 and the Far Ultraviolet Spectrum Explorer, or FUSE.

BTW, you can get automatic updates from NASA’s MAVEN Launch Blog by subscribing to our feed at blogs.nasa.gov/maven/feed

 

 Good morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida where the weather is warm, the sky is blue with some thin cloud streaks and MAVEN stands atop an Atlas V rocket poised to head to Mars! The launch teams here report everything is on track for a liftoff at 1:28 p.m. EST. If some matter comes up, they have until 3:28 p.m. to make today’s launch window before they’d have to stand down and try again tomorrow. At the moment, though, no one is thinking about a delay. Instead they are focused on preparing the rocket for fuel and propellant loading and keeping tabs on the spacecraft’s health.

Meteorologists will watch those clouds closely to see if they form into something more meaningful than wispy streaks. The forecast remains 60 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time.

We’ll bring you all the countdown milestones as they occur during the next 2 1/2 hours and introduce you to MAVEN, an 11.4-foot-tall, 90-inch-wide spacecraft loaded with the instruments scientists hope will tell them what became of Mars’ ancient atmosphere, including the fate of its liquid water.

So stick with us this morning and we’ll keep you up-to-date with all the happenings out at Space Launch Complex-41 as MAVEN goes through its last steps before space.

At T-2 hours, the countdown clocks have paused for 30 minutes. Everything remains on schedule for launch at 1:28 p.m. EST. The countdown will resume at 11:18 EST and the launch team will begin the steps to load cryogenic propellants into the Atlas V first stage and Centaur upper stage.

Here’s a look at the Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida this morning where the Atlas V with MAVEN aboard is going through launch preparations.  Our continuous coverage here on the NASA Launch Blog and NASA TV’s coverage of the countdown will begin at 11 a.m.

Take a look at the rollout of the Atlas V rocket carrying MAVEN from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.