Friday, December 11, 2009

I’m watching the launch of NASA’s WISE spacecraft

NASA’s WISE spacecraftThe launch has been rescheduled for Monday, Dec. 14, at 6:09 a.m. PST. A component on the Delta II launch vehicle will be replaced and weather looks more favorable for a Monday launch.
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NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is scheduled to launch Dec. 14, 2009 aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky in infrared light one-and-a-half times in nine months. During that time WISE will be snapping millions of pictures of everything from near-Earth asteroids to brown dwarfs to faraway galaxies bursting with new stars. Data from this all-sky survey will be used to target current and future space telescopes on the most curious and intriguing objects.

Beginning at 4 a.m. PST (7 a.m. EST/1200 UTC) on Dec. 14, countdown coverage of the WISE launch will be available on NASA-TV (check local cable listings for channel number) and on the Web at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv . Coverage will conclude at 7:45 a.m. PST (10:45 a.m. EST/15:45UTC) after spacecraft separation.

NASA's launch blog also kicks off at 4 a.m. PST (7 a.m. EST) at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/launch/launch_blog.html . Coverage features real-time updates of countdown milestones, as well as streaming video clips highlighting launch preparations and liftoff.

WISE launch window for December 14:
6:09 a.m. to 6:23 a.m. PST
9:09 a.m. to 9:23 a.m. EST
14:09 to 14:23 UTC

For detailed information on the mission and the launch, download the press kit at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/wise-launch.pdf

More information about WISE is available online at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/wise/ and http://wise.astro.ucla.edu



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