In Reverse Order:
0230 GMT (10:30 p.m. EDT; 7:30 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 2 minutes, 30 seconds. The first stage main engine continues to burn normally.
0229 GMT (10:29 p.m. EDT; 7:29 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 1 minute, 30 seconds. The ground-lit boosters have jettisoned from the first stage. They remained attached until the rocket cleared off-shore oil rigs.
0229 GMT (10:29 p.m. EDT; 7:29 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 1 minute, 5 seconds. All four ground-start solid rocket boosters have burned out. The Delta 2’s first stage RS-27A main engine is providing the sole thrust for the next few minutes.
0229 GMT (10:29 p.m. EDT; 7:29 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 50 seconds. The rocket has flown through the area of maximum aerodynamic pressure in the lower atmosphere. The vehicle is riding the power of its first stage main engine and the four strap-on boosters.
0228 GMT (10:28 p.m. EDT; 7:28 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 15 seconds. The Delta 2 rocket is maneuvering onto the correct course for proper placement of the satellite into the COSMO constellation.
0228:25 GMT (10:28:25 p.m. EDT; 7:28:25 p.m. PDT)
LIFTOFF! Liftoff of the third COSMO-SkyMed spacecraft for Italy’s civil and security Earth-observing system.
0227:55 GMT (10:27:55 p.m. EDT; 7:27:55 p.m. PDT)
T-minus 30 seconds. SRB ignitors will be armed at T-minus 11 seconds.
The launch ignition sequence will begin at T-minus 2 seconds when a launch team member triggers the engine start switch. The process begins with ignition of the two vernier thrusters and first stage main engine start. The four ground-lit solid rocket motors then light at T-0 for liftoff.
0227:25 GMT (10:27:25 p.m. EDT; 7:27:25 p.m. PDT)
T-minus 1 minute. All remains “go” for launch.
Anybody see anything in the sky?
Speed info:
0240 GMT (10:40 p.m. EDT; 7:40 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 12 minutes, 10 seconds. The Delta 2 rocket is 100 miles in altitude, 1,546 miles south from the launch pad with a velocity of 16,954 mph.
0311 GMT (11:11 p.m. EDT; 10:11 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 43 minutes. The next firing by the Delta rocket’s second stage is coming up in 10 minutes. The Hartebeesthoek tracking station in South Africa should acquire the rocket in about six minutes. The site will relay the rocket’s signal back to Vandenberg to provide confirmation of the second stage burn and release of the COSMO satellite.
0303 GMT (11:03 p.m. EDT; 10:03 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 35 minutes. The rocket is crossing Antarctica now as it flies in a polar orbit around Earth. A map of the rocket’s planned flight path is available here.
0258 GMT (10:58 p.m. EDT; 7:58 p.m. PDT)
T+plus 30 minutes. The rocket is coasting until the second stage restarts its engine at T+plus 53 minutes, 27 seconds for a brief 12-second firing to put the vehicle into a near-circular orbit 340 miles above Earth. Deployment of COSMO from the launch vehicle is expected 58 minutes after liftoff.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d336/status.html
last post.