NASA Scientists Watch Tropical Storm Emily for Friday's Jupiter-Bound Launch

NASA claims its scientists are keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Emily in the Caribbean as they prepare a powerful Atlas V rocket for launch Friday.

It's a very big, post-shuttle deal for the space agency -- a $1.1 billion mission to Jupiter.

The United Launch Alliance Atlas and its payload -- NASA's Juno spacecraft -- are scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 11:34 a.m. Friday. NASA says the launch window that day will extend until 12:43 p.m.

The big question mark is Tropical Storm Emily's veracity and whereabouts by midday Friday. Forecasters at the Air Force 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron give a 70 percent chance that conditions will be acceptable for launch on that day. But Emily is expected to strengthen and be in close proximity to Central Florida by Saturday.

Twenty- to 30-knot winds and an increasing chance of rain showers raise the mission's scrub chances to 60 percent, if blast-off is delayed until Saturday or Sunday.

NASA's Juno spacecraft to Jupiter is a five-year affair. The mission's prime goal is to reveal a real understanding of the origin and evolution of Jupiter, thought to be the first planet to form after the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
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