NASA Spacecraft and Expendable Launch Vehicles Status Report 14 October 2005

MISSION: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar & Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation/CloudSat (CALIPSO/CloudSat) LAUNCH VEHICLE: Boeing Delta 7420 with Dual Payload Attach Fitting (DPAF) LAUNCH PAD: Space Launch Complex 2
LAUNCH SITE: Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB), California
LAUNCH DATE: No earlier than November 2005 (exact date TBD)
LAUNCH WINDOW: 5:01 a.m. EST (2:01 a.m. PST)

The launch was postponed pending resolution of a problem encountered while testing launch-vehicle flight-termination system batteries. CALIPSO and CloudSat are installed within the Dual Payload Attach Fitting and are undergoing final battery charging in preparation for transport to the launch pad. Except for the battery problem, Delta II preparations at NASA’s Space Launch Complex 2 continue to go well.

MISSION: New Horizons
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Lockheed Martin Atlas V 551 (AV-010)
LAUNCH PAD: Complex 41
LAUNCH SITE: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
LAUNCH DATE: Jan. 11, 2006
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2:07 to 4:07 p.m. EST

The Centaur stage was hoisted onto the Atlas booster on Tuesday, and mating should be completed by this weekend. New Horizons spacecraft testing and processing activities in the clean room are on schedule. The instrument to measure the solar wind around Pluto was installed in the spacecraft and tested Oct. 6. Spacecraft communications testing with Deep Space Network tracking stations is scheduled for tomorrow and Saturday.