Today’s the day before scheduled launch, or “L-1.” NASA’s MMS spacecraft and the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket are slated to lift off Thursday at 10:44 p.m. EDT. The launch weather forecast issued this morning by the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron continues to predict a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions, with cumulus clouds and thick clouds the primary concerns at launch time.
An array of mission experts will offer an in-depth look at the MMS mission during a science briefing today at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Watch the briefing live on NASA TV beginning at 1 p.m.
If you’re in the central Florida area and would like to watch the launch in person, be sure to check out our list of launch viewing areas around the Space Coast. Sometimes launches are visible from farther away in Florida or along the eastern seaboard, but the view from afar depends on weather and atmospheric conditions.
GSFC put the satellites together; will the rising launch vehicle be visible in Maryland? I haven’t seen a visibility diagram for a NASA launch in at least two or three years. Thank you.