Thursday, February 18, 2010

Countdown Update

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 08:21:39 AM EST

Although winds are marginal and occasionally gusting above the limit, the overall trend is much better than yesterday's. An area of clouds has appeared off to the west, and a weather aircraft will fly out and take a closer look at the clouds' thickness and temperature.

Launch managers will decide about five minutes before launch -- the last minute of the T-4 minute hold -- whether to commit to launch at 10:23 a.m. If they decide to wait until further in the window, due to wind or another issue, they will stay in the T-4 minute hold and the spacecraft will remain on external power until the decision is made to come out of the hold.