GOES-L WEATHER SATELLITE ARRIVES AT KSC FOR FINAL TESTING

The GOES-L weather satellite, to be launched aboard an Atlas II rocket in late March or early April, arrived today by C-5 air cargo plane at the Skid Strip on Cape Canaveral Air Station from the manufacturing plant in Palo Alto, CA.

GOES-L is the fourth spacecraft to be launched in the new advanced series of geostationary weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The spacecraft is a three-axis inertially stabilized weather satellite which has the dual capability of providing pictures while performing atmospheric sounding at the same time. Once in orbit the spacecraft is to be designated GOES-11 and will complete check-out before the start of the 1999 hurricane season.

The satellite is being transported today to Astrotech in Titusville where final testing of the imaging system, instrumentation, communications and power systems will be performed. These tests will take approximately two months to complete. Then the spacecraft will be fueled with propellant for the attitude control system, encapsulated in the Atlas nose fairing and prepared for transport to Launch Complex 36 on Cape Canaveral Air Station.

The Lockheed Martin Atlas II rocket and its Centaur upper stage are scheduled to arrive at Cape Canaveral on Feb 9.

The booster erection activities at Launch Pad 36-A will begin on Feb. 15 with the erection of the Atlas stage. The Centaur will follow on Feb. 17. A countdown "wet dress" rehearsal in which the vehicle is fully fueled is anticipated to occur one month later on March 16. Once this is complete the satellite will be transported from Astrotech to the launch pad for mating to the Atlas II rocket, currently planned on March 18. The launch of AC-137/GOES-L is targeted for March 31.

The GOES-L satellite is built for NASA and NOAA by Space Systems/LORAL of Palo Alto, CA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD., is responsible for the procurement of the GOES satellites for NOAA including final testing in Florida and the initial on-orbit checkout. NOAA is responsible for satellite operation, data distribution and management of the program.

As a government civil launch, Kennedy Space Center is responsible for the launch services management which includes NASA oversight of the launch vehicle processing activities, integration of the GOES-L spacecraft with the Atlas II and management of the government role in the launch countdown activities. Lockheed Martin of Denver, CO., is under contract to KSC to provide the launch services.