UPDATE: Monday night’s launch has been postponed to no earlier than Tuesday, May 11, at 8:05 p.m. The launch has been postponed due to upper level winds not being within the required limits for a safe launch.
Original story below…
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NOTTINGHAM, MD—Could the third time be the charm?
NASA will once again try to launch a Black Brant XII rocket from their Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Monday night. The launch had previously been scrubbed due to weather on Saturday night and on Sunday night.
The launch of the rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload has been postponed to no earlier than 8:04 p.m., Monday, May 10, according to NASA. The launch window for Monday runs until 8:44 p.m. EDT.
The launch should be visible in much of the eastern United States from the Atlantic coast to the Mississippi River.
The event includes the release of barium vapor that will form two green-violet clouds that may be visible for about 30 seconds. The barium vapor is not harmful to the environment or public health.
The vapor will be released approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds to around 10 minutes after launch at about 217-249 miles altitude over the Atlantic Ocean and 540-560 miles downrange from Wallops and just north of Bermuda.
Immediately after release of the vapor, the spherical clouds are a mixture of green and violet, but that phase only lasts about 30 seconds when the un-ionized component of the cloud has diffused away. After exposure to sunlight the vapor clouds quickly ionize and take on a violet color.
Live coverage of the mission will be available on the Wallops IBM video site. Launch status updates can be found on the Wallops Facebook and Twitter pages.
The visibility map for Monday night’s rocket launch can be viewed below.
