ILS Launch Of Cablevision’s Rainbow 1 Satellite Has 40 Percent Chance Of Weather Delay Tonight

At press time, Cablevision Systems [NYSE: CVC] was preparing to launch its first satellite aboard an Atlas 5 rocket Thursday evening but weather conditions could interfere with those plans.

Rain and thunderstorms were forecasted at the Cape Canaveral, Fla., launch site this afternoon but were expected to clear sufficiently to give the mission a 60 percent chance of taking place tonight, ILS spokeswoman Fran Slimmer told SATELLITE TODAY. The launch window is between 7:20 p.m. and 9 p.m. EDT

The Atlas 5, marketed by a Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] joint venture, has amassed a track record of 65 successive successful missions in past 10 years.

For more on this story, see the July 21 issue of SATELLITE NEWS. For more info on subscribing to PBI Media’s satellite newsletters, check out our Web site at http://www.telecomweb.com/catalog.