[U: Scrubbed — Weather] Destination Mars: But In... Stealth Mode?! Blue Origin Launching.

Two very efficient, small and compact spacecraft are (almost silently) headed for Mars this afternoon, on a newly calculated slingshot path -- from here in the good old USA -- but almost no one knows, because. . . Trump is napping -- and has shut down the government.

Here's the latest -- in the breach, with NASA still in mothballs -- we rely on private outlets here in the US, and their live YouTube feeds (see window below the pull quote):

. . .Blue Origin’s second New Glenn rocket is scheduled to take flight no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 9, and launch a pair of Mars-bound satellites for NASA along with a communications demonstration payload for Viasat.

The 321-foot-tall (98 m) rocket will fly on a south-easterly trajectory upon leaving Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Blue Origin is targeting liftoff during an 88-minute window that opens at 2:45 p.m. EST (1945 UTC).

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about two hours prior to liftoff. . . .

We will keep an eye on it -- and advise once orbit is achieved, prior to departure for Barsoom (in about a year's time). Onward.

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