The final countdown is on for the planned liftoff of a rocket carrying an earth-imaging satellite into space from Santa Barbara County.
A commercial rocket is set to lift a Taiwanese satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base midday Thursday.
SpaceX is using one of its Falcon 9 rockets to lift the one thousand pound Formosat 5 spacecraft into orbit.
The launch window is from 11:50 a.m., to 12:34 p.m., so weather permitting, the flight could be visible along much of the Central and South Coasts. SpaceX prepared for the flight with an unusual preflight routine. They actually rolled the Falcon 9 rocket out to the launch pad last week, and test fired its nine main engines to make sure it’s ready for flight.
It’s scheduled to be the fifth Falcon 9 liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
