UPDATE 4: NPP is in Orbit and On Its Own
UPDATE 4: The second burn and spacecraft separation were successful. NPP is on its own now, waiting for its solar panels to open up.
UPDATE 3: NPP is in orbit in a coast phase between the first and second firings of the second stage. The second burn is at 58 minutes 45 seconds.
UPDATE 2: NPP has launched!
UPDATE: They have just come out of the planned 10 minute hold at T-4 minutes.
ORIGINAL STORY:
NASA’s NPP satellite is ready for launch is less than 10 minutes from Vandenberg AFB, CA aboard a Delta II rocket.
The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite was designed to test new technologies for the nation’s new weather satellite system. Over the years, the NPOESS program was cancelled, and NPP will be used as an operational weather satellite in NOAA’s polar orbiting system as a bridge between current satellites and NOAA’s new Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), its successor to NPOESS.
User Comments
SpacePolicyOnline.com has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate. We do not post comments that include links to other websites since we have no control over that content nor can we verify the security of such links.