One of the coolest things about living on the Space Coast is watching the launches from Cape Canaveral. Well people, you will be having another opportunity this coming week! On July 18th the Atlas 5 Rocket will launch from the Cape. The Atlas 5 will launch a 15,000 pound MUOS or Mobile User Objective System satellite for our own United States Navy. Built by Lockheed Martin, the Atlas 5 was designed to improve the ground communications for our own US forces by aiding the orbital construction of the Navy's planned five-satellite fleet which will provide cellphone-like communications. MUOS will up the communications over what is presently in existence by over 10 times! Nothing is too good for our forces!
The Atlas 5 launch has been in preparation since May of this year.
The main engine of the Atlas 5 will burn a highly refined blend of kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen. Trust me, you'll see it when the rocket goes up!
The rockets that launch from Cape Canaveral have "launch windows". The launch window for the 18th is between 8:48 - 9:32am. The coolest thing about these launches are it really doesn't matter if it is during the day, you can see them from miles away!
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