NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report 19 Nov 2009

Spacecraft: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7320
Launch Pad: SLC-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Date: no earlier than Dec. 9, 2009
Launch Window: 6:10 – 6:23 a.m. PST

The launch of WISE aboard the Delta II is being rescheduled by approximately two days. A launch date of Dec. 9 currently is under review. This additional time will allow sufficient time for a review of flight data from a Delta IV to be launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station planned early in the first week of December.

The Delta II flight simulation was conducted successfully on Nov. 11. The first stage was loaded with liquid oxygen on Nov. 12 for leak checks and associated launch vehicle testing. There were no issues or concerns with the Delta II rocket.

At the Astrotech payload processing facility on north Vandenberg, work is complete to load and then freeze the cryogenic hydrogen. This hydrogen will be used to supercool the infrared telescope during its six months of observations. There is one final week of spacecraft testing which is under way. Work will then begin to prepare WISE to move to the launch pad on or about Nov. 20 for integration with the Delta II.

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

At the Astotech Space Operations Center, deployment testing of the SDO high gain antennas and solar arrays is complete. On Nov. 18, they will be stowed for flight.

The Atlas rocket first-stage booster arrived by air at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Oct. 26. The Centaur upper stage is scheduled to arrive and be offloaded Wednesday morning.

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