ULA says it has all its ducts in a row for today’s Atlas V launch

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  An Atlas V 531 rocket with the NROL-101 payload on the launch pad is seen Monday before returning to the Vertical Integration Facility for additional payload environmental control system repairs/checkouts.

United Launch Alliance returns to one of its two main pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Wednesday to try to break a string of recent launch scrubs due to various issues, mostly related to ground systems.

The company's Atlas V rocket is scheduled to liftoff from Space Launch Complex-41 at 5:54pm EST (22:54 UTC), carrying a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission is named NROL-101, and its final orbit is classified. There is a 70-percent chance of favorable conditions.

The venerable Atlas V rocket, which has flown 85 missions since its debut in 2002, will be testing new hardware with this flight. For the first time, the Atlas V will use solid-rocket boosters built by Northrop Grumman rather than Aerojet Rocketdyne. These GEM-63 boosters cost less than the booster previously used. United Launch Alliance plans to use an extended version of this booster, the GEM-63L, on its Vulcan rocket, which could make its first flight in a year or so.

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