NASA Postpones Rocket Launch To Saturday, Hoping For Clear Skies
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- NASA postponed the launch of the KiNET-X sounding rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday due to weather.
The launch was originally scheduled for Friday evening, but it was pushed back to Saturday night no earlier than 8:02 p.m.
Under clear skies, the launch would be visible to people up and down the eastern seaboard. Unfortunately, if NASA goes ahead with the launch Saturday, it will likely be too cloudy to see the rocket from the New York City area.
The launch is part of a mission called KiNet-X. The goal is to study how energy and momentum are transported between regions of space that are connected magnetically.
To study this, the rocket will release a barium vapor about 9-10 minutes into the flight just north of Bermuda at an altitude of more than 200 miles. This vapor isn't harmful to the environment or anything else below. In fact, it isn't even likely to be visible to the human eye.
NASA will study the vapor release with all kinds of diagnostic instruments onboard the rocket. NASA calls it "a very simple experiment... that will allow us to quantify the flow of energy to electrons."
If you're hoping to catch a glimpse of the rocket, it could be visible in New York, Connecticut and northern New Jersey about 30-60 seconds after launch. Folks in southern New Jersey could see it about 10-30 seconds after launch.
