GRAIL Launch Milestones

06:08 PDT:  Launch scrubbed due to upper level winds.  24 hour recycle. 

06:07 PDT:  Delta ready for launch.  Red on upper level winds.  Will pick up count and hold at 2 minutes if upper level winds are not green on latest balloon data.

06:03 PDT:  Weather briefing.  60% chance of weather rules violation.

05:31 PDT:  Red upper level winds.  Changing to second launch window at 06:16:12 PDT. T minus 4 minutes and holding.

05:28 PDT: Delta ready for launch.  Red on upper level winds.  Will pick up count and hold at 2 minutes if upper level winds are not green on latest balloon data.

05:23 PDT: T minus 4 minutes and holding. Built in 10 minute hold.

05:18 PDT: T minus 10 minutes.  Weather is go...

04:53 PDT: T minus 15 minutes and holding.  Built in 20 minute hold

04:50 PDT: Steering checks complete

04:37 PDT Steering checks underway. About 30 minutes to launch.

04:30 PDT: LOX loading complete

04:00 PDT: LOX loading is underway

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GRAIL Launch Milestones - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

"NASA's GRAIL spacecraft are set to launch to the moon aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket on Sept. 8, 2011, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. There are two instantaneous (one-second) launch windows at 5:37:06 a.m. and 6:16:12 a.m. PDT (8:37:06 a.m. and 9:16:12 a.m. EDT). The launch period extends through Oct. 19. The launch times occur approximately four minutes earlier each day.

GRAIL's primary science objectives are to determine the structure of the lunar interior, from crust to core, and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon.
The lunar orbiters are nestled inside the top of a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7920H-10C rocket, the most powerful Delta rocket in NASA's inventory."