NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report 18 September 2009

Mission: Space Tracking and Surveillance System – Demonstrators
Program (STSS-Demo)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-10
Launch Pad: Launch Pad 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: No earlier than Sept. 23, 2009
Launch Window: 8 – 9 a.m. EDT

To accommodate readiness of the STSS Demo spacecraft, the launch of the Delta II has been rescheduled for no earlier than Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 8 a.m. EDT. The launch window is 60 minutes in duration.

Loading of the hypergolic propellants aboard the Delta II second stage is scheduled for Sept. 20. The mission countdown dress rehearsal will also be performed that day. The Launch Readiness Review is to be held on Sept. 21.

On Sept. 22 at 11:30 p.m., the mobile service tower will be pulled away from the Delta II rocket. On launch day, Sept. 23, the terminal countdown begins at 5:20 a.m. to start the loading of the RP-1 fuel and liquid oxygen aboard the Delta II first stage.

At this time there is a 40 percent probability of not meeting the launch weather criteria during the one hour launch opportunity.

Spacecraft: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7320
Launch Pad: SLC-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Date: Dec. 7, 2009
Launch Window: 9:10 – 9:23 a.m. EST

At the Astrotech payload processing facility on north Vandenberg, WISE spacecraft testing continues. This week the Mission Sequence Test and Operational Readiness Test are under way and will conclude next week.

Build-up of the Delta II at Space Launch Complex 2 is scheduled to begin on Oct. 19 with hoisting of the first stage into the launcher.

Spacecraft: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-401
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: Feb. 3, 2010
Launch Window: 10:53 – 11:53 a.m. EST

With the launch being rescheduled to Feb. 3, 2010 the SDO spacecraft is in a dwell period at Astrotech. There is no testing or processing activity currently under way. Spacecraft launch preparations are currently planned to resume on Sept. 28.

Previous status reports are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index.html