NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report 12 July 2005

Mission: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
Launch Vehicle: Lockheed Martin Atlas V 401
Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41), Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Launch Date: August 10, 2005
Launch Window: 7:53:58 to 9:53:58 a.m. (EDT)

Power-on testing continues to go well. Solar arrays will be deployed, inspected and stowed for launch. The Centaur upper stage for the Atlas V is at the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at SLC-41. It was hoisted atop the Atlas stage to begin checkout.

The Launch Vehicle Readiness Test continues. A countdown wet dress rehearsal with the launch vehicle fully fueled was completed July 7. Spacecraft fueling is scheduled for July 18. A spin test to ensure balance of the spacecraft will be completed by July 20. The MRO will be transported from the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility to the VIF in late July. It will join the Atlas V for the final phase of launch preparations.

Mission: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation and CloudSat (CALIPSO/CloudSat)
Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta II 7420 DPAF
Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC2), Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Date: NET September 11, 2005

CloudSat completed battery reconditioning June 27. The second stage of the Delta II vehicle is planned to be hoisted atop the interstage Thursday. Processing of the CALIPSO spacecraft is complete. Previous status reports are available on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2005