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Loading of cryogenic liquid oxygen into the Delta II rocket's first stage is beginning now.

Launch Conductor Mark Levesque and Launch Director Don Malin, both of United Launch Alliance, also have given the go-ahead to start the flow of liquid oxygen into the Delta II's first stage.

NASA Launch Manager Tim Dunn has polled his team and given the "go" to begin loading of cryogenic liquid oxygen into the Delta II rocket's first stage. That process, also called tanking, is expected to begin shortly. The Delta II 7320 rocket set to launch SMAP this morning stands 127 feet tall and weighs approximately …

Although water in the soil represents only a fraction of Earth's total water, it's important to understand and monitor. SMAP will provide high resolution, space-based measurements of soil moisture, and whether it's frozen or thawed. This is a new capability that will allow scientists to better predict natural hazards of extreme weather, climate change, floods …

The mobile service tower at Space Launch Complex 2 was rolled away from the Delta II rocket Friday evening, clearing the way for final prelaunch preparations to begin. Photo credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Launch and mission managers are stationed at their consoles and countdown activities are in progress at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive spacecraft awaits liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket. Liftoff remains scheduled for 9:20 a.m. EST. SMAP is a three-year mission to study and map …

Managers from NASA and United Launch Alliance (ULA) met yesterday at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and gave a "go" to proceed with the launch of NASA's Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) spacecraft atop a ULA Delta II rocket this morning at 9:20 a.m. EST (6:20 a.m. PST). Liftoff is scheduled for the opening …

Epigenetics:   Wilmore retrieved 12 culture bags from MERLIN.  The crew transferred the third generation larva samples from incubated culture bags to new culture bags using the transfer syringe. The procedure was repeated for all 12 samples.  The culture bags were then placed in the Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) to start a 4 day incubation.  …

The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) is scheduled to launch at 6:10 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 8 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. A backup launch opportunity is available on Feb. 9 at 6:07 p.m., if needed. NASA Television coverage of the …

We have a host of photos from Astrotech where the DSCOVR spacecraft is being prepared for launch Feb. 8. The photos include recent testing of the solar arrays, including unfurling them as they will after the DSCOVR gets into space.