The triple core rocket is slated to launch at 1:40 p.m.
ET on Thursday, blasting off from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The weather forecast isnt great, with ULA predicting a 30% chance of favorable conditions.
ULA’s Delta IV Heavy in 2018 prior to the launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe.Photo: NASA/Bill Ingalls
Should bad weather force a scrub, ground teams will have another go 24 hours later.
In its press materials, ULA described the Delta IV Heavy as the most metal of rockets.
Crank up the volume for the most metal of rockets!
When the engines are ignited, this excess hydrogen catches fire, causing the briefbut intensefireball.
This phenomenon is actually anormal and expected partof the launch process.
A 2018 video (below) describes the process in more detail.
This is the last flight for the 235-foot-tall (72-meter) Delta IV Heavy, which debuted in 2002.
Its also the end of the road for the Delta program.
ULAs new Vulcan Centaur rocket, whichdebutedin January, is designed to replace the Deltas.
The two-stage Delta IV Heavy consists of three booster cores, each powered by a RS-68A engine.
A 16-foot-tall (5-meter) payload fairing completes the assembly.
Its first successful operational mission was in 2007, sending an NRO reconnaissance satellite into space.
So its out with the old and in with the new.
Sure, well miss those frightening fireballs at launch, but the future awaits.
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