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Voice: George Diller, Launch Commentator:
This is Atlas Launch Control at T-2 hours

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and holding.

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We're now considering the built-in hold time
that we have remaining in our countdown tonight.

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We're approximately two hours and 45 minutes
away from the liftoff of NASA's Magnetospheric

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Multiscale Mission, known for short as just
MMS. Launches atop a United Launch Alliance

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Atlas V rocket

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from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral.

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The launch window today extends from 10:44
to 11:14 p.m. A duration of exactly 30 minutes.

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This will be the 53rd Atlas V launch. Of those,
MMS will be the 12th NASA mission to be launched

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on an

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Atlas V rocket.

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MMS will advance the story of space weather
or physics, and the phenomenon known as magnetic

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reconnection. MMS will be the first mission
to observe magnetic reconnection with instruments

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100

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times more sensitive than any instrument flown
previously.

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Four identical observatories will fly in pyramid
formation. Each of the four spacecraft are

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octagonally-

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shaped, is four feet tall and eleven feet
across once their instrument rooms are deployed.

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They will be

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placed in a highly-elliptical orbit which
ranges between 44,000 and 95,000 miles from

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Earth, nearly

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halfway to the moon. But yet the four observatories
will fly as close as 6 miles apart from each

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other.

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The mission will advance our knowledge of
space and solar physics, but yet has some

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practical

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applications such as an understanding of the
effect of what causes solar storms, and predicting

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the

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At this time we're not working any problems
in our launch countdown. And we'll remain

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on schedule for

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liftoff at 10:44 tonight.

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We're standing by now for our readiness poll
from our NASA Launch Manager Omar Baez coming

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up in

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just about a minute or so. And at that point
we will be preparing ourselves to pick up

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the countdown.

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Countdown will resume at 8:14 p.m. Eastern
time this evening. Just prior to that, we'll

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have a readiness

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report before cryogenic tanking from our United
Launch Alliance Atlas V launch team.

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And our Launch Conductor Doug Lego will brief
the test team for the launch time on the proper

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procedure for continuing through the countdown
tonight as far as all of the countdown protocol

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required in communications with the launch
conductor.