Spacecraft and Expendable Vehicles Status Report 3 July 2002
MISSION: CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus Tour)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Delta II 7425
LAUNCH PAD: 17-A Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: July 3, 2002
LAUNCH WINDOW: 2:47:41 – 2:47:47 a.m. EDT
The launch of the Boeing Delta II rocket with NASA’s CONTOUR spacecraft occurred at 2:47:41.366 EDT from Pad 17-A at Cape Canaveral. Spacecraft separation occurred at 3:51 a.m., 63 minutes after launch.
CONTOUR was acquired by the Goldstone tracking station of the Deep Space Network 19 minutes later at 4:09 a.m., one hour twenty two minutes after launch. Spacecraft engineers at the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University confirmed at 5:45 a.m. EDT that the spacecraft is in good health.
MISSION: Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Pegasus XL
LAUNCH SITE: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: NET Aug. 14, 2002 (Under Review)
LAUNCH WINDOW: 07:50 – 09:50 a.m. EDT
The GALEX spacecraft is at the Orbital Space Systems Group facility in Dulles, Virginia. The arrival date at KSC is under review.
Meanwhile, in California at Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Pegasus launch vehicle continues to undergo standard prelaunch processing. The second of four flight simulations was successfully completed on June 17 and routine processing also continues on the vehicle nose fairing.
Arrival of the Pegasus XL at KSC is being planned to occur approximately two weeks after arrival of the GALEX spacecraft.
MISSION: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-J (TDRS-J)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Lockheed Martin Atlas IIA (AC-144)
LAUNCH SITE: Pad 36-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: October 29, 2002
LAUNCH WINDOW: TBD
The TDRS-J spacecraft is anticipated to arrive at Kennedy Space Center from the Boeing Satellite Systems plant in El Segundo, California on September 26. The launch is scheduled to occur on October 29, 2002, however, the launch window has not yet been determined.
The Lockheed Martin Atlas II launch vehicle is at the factory in Denver, Colorado undergoing final assembly. Arrival of the booster at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is anticipated to occur in mid-September.
