This would now serve as an orbital spare for the hurricane tracking weather sentinels from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The launch occurred at 6.51 p.m at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This was the 10th flight of the Delta 4 rocket since 2002 and it is also the second of the three main launchings that were planned for the current year.

Earlier a launch was scheduled on Friday, which was called off due to the thunderstorms and the electrical activity near the launch bed at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Even on Saturday the forecast was pretty much the same and it was also predicted a 70% chance of launch delay. After these initial hick ups the launch was successfully carried out after some 37 minutes delay.

The rocket’s first stage performed its task normally lifting the vehicle 90 miles before falling away nearly four and a half minutes after liftoff. It was the second stage that lofted the huge spacecraft into a parking orbit that initiated the boost of the 7000 pound GOES – O satellite into the transfer orbit. It was 11.12 p.m when the satellite got separated from the rocket’s second stage. Currently the milestone is expected to be on July 8 and if things move well in line, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems will turn this new satellite to the government on July 18. This Geostationary satellite systems provides a more decent hemispheric views that are familiar from television weathercasts and thus can help in accurate forecasts.

Source: news.cnet