Approaching inclement weather on the Atlantic coast of Florida on Wednesday pushed back the scheduled launch of WGS-3, the Air Force’s third Wideband Global Satellite Communications spacecraft, by 24 hours, according to Air Force Space Command. The new launch window is now Thursday from 7:22 p.m. to 8:43 p.m. East Coast time, the command said in a release. WGS-3 will be carried into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket fired from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. It will reside in orbit over the eastern Atlantic.
It is critical that the Air Force move forward on the replacement for its E-4B “Doomsday” aircraft to keep the capability “viable” into the next decade and beyond, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told lawmakers May 8.