Thursday, June 18, 2009

A last night on Earth spent outdoors

Via Florida Today's Flame Trench, Cape Canaveral hosts, at least for one last night, the Atlas V at last preparing to begin the LRO and LCROSS missions, American's first "moon shot" since Lunar Propector in 1999

Patrick Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral, FL - June 17 - It's first launch opportunity set aside for range tracking to offer a last chance for Endeavour, and STS-127, to launch early Wednesday, the Atlas V carrying its LRO & LCROSS mission payloads was rolled out of United Space Alliance Verticle Integration Facility to pad 41. It is from here mission managers hope it will spend on final night on Earth before embarking on the first U.S. lunar mission since that of Lunar Prospector a decade before, with three of Thursday evening's launch opportunities beginning at 2112 UT.