Two NASA ships in N.H. harbor, ready to track SpaceX rocket (if it ever takes off)

The launch of the private SpaceX rocket from Kenney Space Center has been delayed until at least next week by software issues, but WMUR-TV reports that two NASA support ships are already in Portsmouth harbor, waiting to cruise 400 miles out to see and track the launch:

The ships are docked in Portsmouth because the rocket will travel northeast once it's launched from Florida.

Both ships carry a Doppler radar system designed to photograph and track supersonic vehicles such as the Falcon 9 rocket."This radar is very sophisticated," Jacobs said. "It's actually worth more than the rest of the vessel put together."On board the Freedom Star is a device called MARS."It's a gyroscopically controlled telescope mount that is used for imaging both high-definition video and thermal imaging for, in this case, a spacecraft," said Allan Keller, MARS team leader.