A spacecraft known as Kepler is just hours away from beginning a four year long mission to research the galaxies around ours to investigate if there are any earth-like planets which we could travel to and explore someday. Liftoff of a Delta II 7925 rocket from here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is set for 10:49 pm EST, from Launch Complex 17-B. The launch window is three minutes. If the 10:49 pm window does not look go to support launch, then there is a second window which opens at 11:13 pm.
"The mission attempts to answer a question that is old as time itself -- are other planets like ours out there?" states NASA's Science Mission Directorate Ed Weiler.
Tune into SpaceLaunchNews.com this evening beginning at 9PM EST for complete LIVE television coverage of the launch activities. And, if you are like me and use Twitter for updates, visit twitter.com/NASAKepler for mission updates via your PDA.
Launch Profile Tonight:
10:49p: Delta II Launch
10:50p: 3 more SRB's ignite
10:54p: First stage engine shutdown
10:54p: Second Stage engine burn
10:58p: Kepler in orbit: 115 miles up
11:40p: Delta 2nd Stage re firing
11:46p: Delta 3rd Stage firing
11:51p: Kepler separates from nose cone
Following two months of checkouts, Kepler will then begin her mission to study over 10,000 stars around our own star - the Sun.
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