TDRS-M Launch Weather Forecast Predicts 70 Percent ‘Go’ for Friday Liftoff

The payload fairing containing the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M (TDRS-M) is in place atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.
The payload fairing containing the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M (TDRS-M) is in place atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Meteorologists with the U.S. Air Force 45th Weather Squadron are expecting a 70 percent chance of favorable conditions for Friday’s planned launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M (TDRS-M). The primary weather concerns are thick clouds and cumulus clouds. Liftoff is targeted for 8:03 a.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Launch and mission officials participated in a routine prelaunch dress rehearsal this afternoon to ensure teams and facilities are ready to support liftoff.

TDRS-M is the third in a series of next-generation satellites to join the existing TDRS constellation, which for decades has provided communications between ground stations and spacecraft in Earth orbit such as the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope.

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