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| Note |
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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.
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| GP-B
|
| Mission |
Gravity
Probe B |
| Launch Vehicle |
Delta
II |
| Launch Pad |
SLC-2W,
Vandenberg Air Force Base |
| Launch Date |
December
6, 2003 |
| Launch Times |
5:52:02
p.m. PST |
|
| |
| Status
(processing
notes) |
| Gravity
Probe B is at NASA spacecraft processing hangar 1610 on
North Vandenberg Air Force Base. The pumping down
of the dewar which is filled with cryogenic helium is
continuing this week. This brings the environment
within the dewar to a near vacuum. It will then
be refilled to the level necessary to achieve and maintain
superfluid conditions.
Preparations are beginning for the planned erection next
week of the Delta II launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex
2. Due to some observed delaminations within the
layers of material that comprise the solid rocket booster
nozzle exit-cone liners, some additional time is necessary
to perform a precautionary change out of three of the
nine boosters assigned for this mission. The additional
time required means that the launch is being rescheduled
for Saturday, Dec. 6.
The start of erection activities of the Boeing Delta II
remains scheduled to begin on Sept. 15 with the erection
of the first stage. The second stage is now planned
for mating atop the first stage on Sept. 18. Attachment
of the nine strap-on solid rocket boosters in sets of
three is scheduled for Oct. 6-8.
Gravity Probe B will be transported from the spacecraft
hangar to Space Launch Complex 2 on Nov. 18 and hoisted
atop the second stage. The Delta II fairing will be installed
around the spacecraft on Nov. 24 as part of final preparations
for launch. Gravity Probe B arrived at Vandenberg
Air Force Base on July 11 from the Lockheed Martin plant
in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Gravity Probe B is a relativity experiment developed by
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Stanford University
and Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft will test two
extraordinary predictions of Albert Einstein’s general
theory of relativity that he advanced in 1916. Gravity
Probe B consists of four sophisticated gyroscopes to be
launched into a 400-mile-high orbit for a mission lasting
18 months.
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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.
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