Spacecraft and Expendable Vehicles Status Report 13 Mar 2002

MISSION: TDRS-I (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I)

LAUNCH VEHICLE: Lockheed Martin ATLAS IIA (AC-143)

LAUNCH PAD: 36-A Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

LAUNCH DATE: March 8, 2002

LAUNCHED: 5:59 p.m. EST

This week TDRS-I is being raised to its final orbital altitude of 22, 240 miles. The spacecraft will then be allowed to drift to its checkout position at 150 degrees West longitude, over the equator south of Hawaii. On-orbit testing will then begin using NASA’s TDRS system command and control facility at White Sands, NM. After checkout is complete and the satellite declared fully functional, it will be turned over by Boeing Satellite Systems to NASA for operation.

TDRS-I was successfully launched aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA rocket at 5:59 p.m. on Friday, March 8 from Pad A at Space Launch Complex 36 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Spacecraft separation from the Centaur stage occurred as planned thirty minutes later at 6:29 p.m.

TDRS-I was acquired by the Indian Ocean tracking station at Diego Garcia at 6:35 p.m. The solar arrays and antennas were then successfully gradually deployed.

MISSION: Aqua EOS-PM (Earth Observing System Aqua Observatory)

LAUNCH VEHICLE: DELTA II 7920-10L

LAUNCH PAD: Space Launch Complex 2, Vandenberg Air Force Base

LAUNCH DATE: April 18, 2002

LAUNCH WINDOW: 2:54:58 – 3:04:58 a.m. PDT

The Aqua spacecraft is at the Spaceport Systems International (SSI) payload processing facility located on South Vandenberg Air Force Base. The spacecraft was powered-on March 8 for the Comprehensive Performance Test. A software problem was found. Corrective software has been developed and is undergoing verification testing.