Spaceport America is conducting an “educational” launch this morning of a sounding rocket built by UP Aerospace. The rocket is carrying a number of payloads provided by high schools and colleges in New Mexico, as well as secondary payloads from the Air Force and Celestis. According to the Spaceport America web site there will be a live webcast of the launch on its web site at 10 am EDT, although I haven’t seen the webcast show up yet on the site, less than a half-hour from launch.
Update 2:45 pm EDT: Spaceport America declared the launch a success, although, according to the AP, the rocket fell short of its planned peak altitude of 75 miles (120 km) by an unspecified amount, apparently enough to keep it from “reaching space”, according to Spaceport America’s Steve Landeene.
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