Robert Moses May be Great Spot to View Space Rocket Tonight

Written by Sarah Walsh.

If you're a space nut you might want to head to Robert Moses tonight and see a rocket on the horizon carrying a special package into space. 

A U.S. Air Force Minotaur I rocket is scheduled to lift-off at 7:30 p.m. from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0B at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The Minotaur will launch the Air Force's Operationally Responsive Space Office's ORS-3 mission, which features the deployment of 29 satellites in space.

The launch window is 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. The backup launch days run through November 26. 

The prospects for seeing the rocket from Long Island are good. The National Weather Center forecasters predict for "clear skies" on Tuesday night, though it may be a bit chilly to stand outside as temps hover near 30 degrees. 

From NASA: 

"The Minotaur's primary payload is the Space Test Program Satellite-3 (STPSat-3), an Air Force technology-demonstration mission. Thirteen small cubesats aboard are being provided through NASA's Cubesat Launch Initiative. Among the cubesats is NASA's Small Satellite Program PhoneSat 2 second generation smartphone mission. Also included is the first cubesat built by high school students."