| |
| Note |
|
This expendable launch
vehicle and payload processing status will be issued
weekly. It will provide the status of upcoming NASA
missions scheduled for launch aboard expendable launch
vehicles. For additional information on NASA ELV
launches, visit: http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/elvnew/elv.htm.
|
| |
|
TDRS-J
|
| Mission |
Tracking
and Data Relay Satellite-J |
| Launch
Vehicle |
Lockheed
Martin Atlas IIA (AC-144) |
| Launch
Pad |
Launch
Complex 36-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
| Launch
Date |
December
4, 2002 |
| Launch
Time: |
9:42
p.m. EST |
|
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
|
 NASA’s
TDRS-J Tracking and Data Relay Satellite was
successfully launched from Cape Canaveral at 9:42 p.m.
aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA rocket. The on-time
liftoff occurred from Pad A at Launch Complex 36. The
burns of the Atlas and Centaur stages were nominal.
Spacecraft separation occurred at 10:12 p.m. Contact
with TDRS-J was made at 10:41 p.m. when the satellite
passed over NASA’s Canberra tracking station in
Australia.
During the next eight
days, a series of orbit raising maneuvers will boost the
7,039-pound satellite into a geosynchronous orbit 22,300
miles above the Earth’s equator. |
| |
|
ICESAT
/ CHIPSAT
|
| Mission |
Ice,
Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite / Cosmic Hot
Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer |
| Launch
Vehicle |
Boeing
Delta II with Reduced Height Dual Payload Attach
Fitting (RH DPAF) |
| Launch
Pad |
SLC-2W,
Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) |
| Launch
Date |
December 19, 2002 |
| Launch
Window |
4:45
- 5:30
p.m. PST |
|
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
|
| The
ICESAT/CHIPSAT payload was rolled out of the Astrotech
Space Operations Payload Processing Facility on Tuesday
night, arriving at Space Launch Complex 2 located on
North Vandenberg Air Force Base in the pre-dawn hours of
Wednesday morning. It was then hoisted atop the Boeing
Delta II launch vehicle. Mechanical and electrical
connections are complete and a spacecraft state of
health has been performed.
The remaining major test
is the Flight Program Verification scheduled for today.
This will verify that the vehicle and the spacecraft are
operating in an integrated manner. Work to install the
two fairing halves around the spacecraft is scheduled to
begin on Dec. 11 and be completed the following day, the
final major activity to be performed before launch.
There are no issues or
concerns with the Boeing Delta II vehicle, the ICESAT or
CHIPSAT spacecraft and launch is on schedule for
Thursday, Dec. 19 at 4:45 p.m. PST.
|
| |
| Mission |
Solar
Radiation and Climate Experiment |
| Launch
Vehicle |
Pegasus
XL |
| Launch
Pad |
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station |
| Launch
Date |
January
25, 2003 |
| Launch
Time |
3:10
p.m. - 4:08
p.m. EST T-0: 3:15 p.m. EST |
| |
|
Status
(processing
notes)
|
| On
the Pegasus launch vehicle, re-mating of the
three stages of the vehicle was completed on
Dec. 2. Flight Simulation Test 2-A was
successfully completed on Dec. 4 and the
reaction control system (RCS) is being
charged to flight pressure today. The mating
of the launch vehicle to the L-1011 aircraft
and the Combined Systems Test (CST) is
scheduled to occur on Dec. 13.
The ferry to
KSC using the Orbital Sciences L-1011
aircraft is scheduled for Dec. 17. Once at
KSC, three Flight Simulations are planned
prior to launch and are scheduled for Dec.
22, Jan. 3 and Jan. 8.
At KSC in the
Multi-purpose Payload Processing Facility (MPPF),
limited work is being performed on SORCE in
anticipation of the arrival of the Pegasus.
The SORCE project is managed by NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center, the spacecraft
is built by the Orbital Sciences Space
Systems Group, and the instruments are built
by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space
Physics (LASP).
|
|
|
|
The Kennedy
Space Center (KSC) Newsroom offers an electronic subscription
service for status reports, news releases and other notices
issued from KSC. There are two possible ways to subscribe.
You may send a blank e-mail message to ksc-news_release-subscribe@kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov
or follow the instructions on the Web site at http://kscnews.ksc.nasa.gov.
The system will confirm the request via e-mail.
|
|
|
