SDO Launch Scrub; Try Again Tomorrow

By Nancy Atkinson - February 10, 2010 at 8:43 AM UTC | Solar Astronomy
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Note: Nancy Atkinson is at Kennedy Space Center to cover SDO and the STS-130 shuttle mission

Scrub! High winds kept the Solar Dynamics Observatory on the ground for today, but the launch team will try again Thursday (Feb. 11) at 10:26 a.m. EST (15:26 GMT). Weather is 60% go for tomorrow, and winds will be down to about 16 knots but cloud cover may be an issue. Today, winds consistently peaked well above the constraint speed of 20 knots – often well into the 30's. The winds here at the press site were equally strong, and combined with cool weather, kept most people indoors until the launch team gave the go-ahead.

Winds were predicted to decrease later in the day, so the launch team pushed back the countdown as far into the launch window as possible. Originally slated for a 10:26 a.m. EST launch, they first moved it ahead 30 minutes to 10:56, and then to 11:26, leaving just the built-in hold at T-4 minutes in the countdown, -- and more importantly, leaving only four minutes for a possible attempt. The count was able to pick up when the weather officer gave the go-ahead, but as soon as the countdown restarted, the count was automatically stopped because the wind loads had risen again.

The scrub was a disappointment for the SDO team, which has had repeated delays in their timeline leading up to launch. But now SDO and the Atlas V rocket can launch any day that the weather allows, so we'll be back again tomorrow for another try!

You can follow my updates on Twitter (

@Nancy_A

) for live, real-time updates. I'll also be reporting live Thursday morning on

AstronomyFM,

a 24-hour internet radio dedicated to astronomy and space exploration.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com