Spacecraft and Expendable Vehicles Status Report – NASA KSC

MISSION: HESSI (High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager)

LAUNCH VEHICLE: Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL

LAUNCH SITE: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

LAUNCH DATE: Feb. 5, 2002

Attached to an L-1011 aircraft, NASA’s High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) mounted atop an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL rocket, departed from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 2:29 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Feb. 5. The rocket was successfully launched at an altitude of 39,000 feet 75 miles offshore over the Atlantic Ocean at 3:58 p.m. and separated from the Pegasus nine minutes and forty two seconds later. The spacecraft was acquired at 5:33 p.m. EST by the 36-foot tracking antenna at the University of California at Berkley. The spacecraft is in a circular orbit of 373 miles and is in good health.

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

LAUNCH WINDOW: 5:39 – 6:19 p.m. EST

The TDRS-I spacecraft arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility aboard an Air Force C-17 air cargo plane on Monday, Feb. 4 at 7:38 a.m. EST. The satellite was shipped from the Boeing Satellite Systems plant in El Segundo, Calif. It was taken to the SAEF-2 spacecraft processing facility at KSC for three weeks of final checkout, fueling and encapsulation into the Atlas payload fairing. The fueling activities are scheduled to begin on Feb. 13.

At Pad A on Space Launch Complex 36, limited Atlas vehicle processing activity is scheduled this week and the vehicle is awaiting the arrival of the spacecraft on or about Feb. 25.

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: 1:54:50 – 2:04:50 a.m. PST

Aqua spacecraft testing is continuing at the TRW plant in Redondo Beach, Calif. At this time, the spacecraft is expected to be shipped to Vandenberg Air Force Base on Feb. 25.

The erection of the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle on the pad at Space Launch Complex 2 is now also planned to begin on Feb. 25. The Boeing and NASA review to assess readiness of the vehicle and the launch pad for that activity is scheduled for Feb. 19 in Huntington Beach, Calif.