Launch Readiness Review completed
The Launch Readiness Review (LRR) is GO for Thursday’s liftoff of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with another batch of production satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation. The mission is planned to lift off on Thurs., Sept. 25, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, at 8:09 a.m. EDT with a 29-minute window. Today’s forecast shows an 85 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launch.
The LRR, led by ULA Launch Director Ron Fortson, was completed this morning at the Advanced Spaceflight Operations Center (ASOC).
Leadership from ULA, Amazon and Space Force assessed the readiness of the rocket, payload and mission assets, discussed the status of pre-flight processing work, heard technical overviews of the countdown and flight, and previewed the weather forecast that projects an 85 percent chance of meeting the launch rules.
At the conclusion of the meeting, senior leaders were polled and gave a ready status for launch, then signed the Launch Readiness Certificate.
The Atlas V rocket, designated AV-108, stands 205 feet (62.5 meters) tall and will launch the Kuiper 3 payload into near-circular low Earth orbit (LEO) of approximately 280 miles (450 km) and 51.9 degrees inclination. At liftoff, the rocket generates a combined thrust of 2.7 million pounds (12 megaNewtons) from its main engine and five solid rocket boosters.
ULA will offer live reports from launch control in the automatically refreshing blog beginning Thursday at 5:15 a.m. EDT (0915 UTC). The launch webcast starts at L-20 minutes.
Atlas V Kuiper 3 mission information available here.
Launch Forecast Summary:
- Overall probability of violating weather constraints: 15%
- Primary concerns: Cumulus Cloud Rule