CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Central Florida voters won’t see a rocket launch on Election Day after all. United Launch Alliance was slated to send up a secret spy satellite on the Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Tuesday evening but announced the mission has been delayed 24 hours.
The Atlas V rocket made the 1,800-feet journey to the launch pad Monday afternoon from the hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Inside the rocket’s nose cone is the NROL-101 satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The NRO builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites providing support to the intelligence community and the U.S. Department of Defense.
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The launch was slated for Tuesday evening about an hour before the polls closed but ULA announced late Monday liftoff is now planned for Wednesday at 5:54 p.m. EST.
“Upon arriving at the launch pad we experienced an upper payload environmental control system flow rate reduction," ULA said in a statement. “The team is in the process of rolling the Atlas V back to the vertical integration facility to complete troubleshooting.”
Both the rocket and satellite are healthy, according to ULA.
Forecasters with the 45th Weather Squadron are predicting a 70% chance of good conditions for the new liftoff time.
[RELATED: When is the next rocket launch from Florida?]
The #AtlasV stands atop its Cape Canaveral pad for Tuesday's #NROL101 launch in support of U.S. national security. Today's rollout completed the rocket's first 1,800 feet on its journey into space, traveling by rail from the Vertical Integration Facility. https://t.co/M91ugJaYds pic.twitter.com/YE3HCUTD43
— ULA (@ulalaunch) November 2, 2020
This will be the first launch for ULA since July. Another NRO satellite launch was delayed a handful of times in August, September and October before ULA announced the launch was delayed indefinitely.
In July, another Atlas V was used to send NASA’s new Mars rover on its journey to the Red Planet.
Later in the week, SpaceX is also planning a launch. The company is slated to launch a GPS satellite for the U.S. Space Force and Air Force on Thursday. The 15-minute launch window opens at 6:24 p.m. The Falcon 9 will liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Weather officers are giving the liftoff a 60% chance for good launch weather.
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