MUOS Launch thursday night

The forecast is favorable for Thursday's planned launch of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the first in a new series of communications satellites operated by the Navy.
There's an 80 percent chance of good weather during a launch window that opens at 5:46 p.m. and extends to 6:30 p.m. at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, with cumulus clouds the primary concern.

Conditions at Launch Complex 41 are expected to worsen if the launch slips to Friday, with only a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather. Read the official forecast here: http://www.patrick.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070716-027.pdf.

The 206-foot Atlas V, supported by five strap-on solid rocket boosters, is launching the first of the Navy's Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, spacecraft.

MUOS is a next-generation narrowband tactical satellite communications system that will provide significantly improved and assured communications for the mobile warfighter, according to ULA's mission summary. MUOS-1 will ultimately replace the current UHF SATCOM system, providing military users with 10 times more communications capability over existing systems.

Read the mission summary here: http://www.ulalaunch.com/site/docs/missionbooklets/AV/av_muos1_mob.pdf