|
|
|
|
|
Weather satellite leaves launch pad for health check BY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: February 22, 2006
"Because of the duration the GOES-N satellite has been encapsulated on the Delta 4, engineers decided that it is prudent to de-stack the satellite and perform some routine check-outs to ensure all systems are performing as originally intended," Boeing's satellite manufacturing firm said in a press statement this week. Boeing built the spacecraft and the rocket for this mission. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite was put atop the Delta rocket on June 8, 2005 for a summer launch from Cape Canaveral's pad 37B. A series of technical problems delayed the flight through mid-August, including a countdown that was halted less than five minutes before liftoff. Orbital lighting constraints and troubles with batteries used on the rocket slipped the mission into the fall, then a three-month strike by Boeing machinists grounded the entire Delta program. Boeing is working to resume its launch schedule in April. Before GOES-N is allowed to fly, however, technicians will conduct a thorough examination of the satellite. And that's something not feasible to perform on the launch pad. Crews unhooked the 6,900-pound craft from the rocket's second stage and lowered it to the ground Monday. The satellite remained cocooned within the Delta's bullet-shaped nose cone. The payload was transported from Complex 37 to the commercial Astrotech processing facility in nearby Titusville before dawn Wednesday.
"The satellite's deployable appendages, batteries, and other critical elements and subsystems will be checked out to ensure they are ready for launch," the press statement said. "NASA and NOAA will also be checking out their instruments to validate they are in an acceptable condition and ready for flight." Once GOES-N is deemed ready for flight, the rocket nose cone will be re-installed and the spacecraft returned to the launch pad to join the awaiting Delta 4. The two-stage rocket was rolled to the pad on February 15, 2005. GOES-N is the first in a new series of U.S. weather satellites with sharper vision and extended life. The craft will be placed into a geosynchronous transfer orbit by the Delta rocket, then maneuvered by its own engine into a circular geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above the equator. It will undergo in-space testing before entering a stand-by storage mode to replace one of the nation's older GOES satellites in the coming years. A launch date for GOES-N has not been set. |
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Commander Steve Lindsey and his crew, the astronauts set to fly the second post-Columbia test flight, hold an informal news conference with reporters at Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 17. The crew is in Florida to examine hardware and equipment that will be carried on the STS-121 flight of shuttle Discovery.
Play video:
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and his No. 2, Shana Dale, appear before the House Science Committee on Feb. 16 to defend President Bush's proposed 2007 budget for the space agency. Congressmen grill Griffin and Dale about the budget's plans to cut funding for some science programs.
With the four test flights complete, NASA declared the space shuttle a fully operational program. The crews were expanded, commercial payloads were welcomed aboard and the mission plans became much more hectic. This new era began with Columbia's STS-5 flight that launched the ANIK-C3 and SBS-C commercial communications satellites from the shuttle's payload bay. Commander Vance Brand, pilot Bob Overmyer and mission specialists Joe Allen and Bill Lenoir narrate highlights from their November 1982 mission in this post-flight presentation.
The developmental test flights of the space shuttle concluded with Columbia's STS-4 mission. Commander Ken Mattingly and pilot Henry Hartsfield spent a week in space examining orbiter systems and running science experiments. The 1982 flight ended on the Fourth of July with President Reagan at the landing site to witness Columbia's return and the new orbiter Challenger leaving for Kennedy Space Center. Watch this STS-4 post-flight crew presentation film.
Columbia's STS-3 mission is best remembered in the history books for its conclusion -- the first and so far only landing at the picturesque Northrup Strip at White Sands, New Mexico. In this post-flight presentation film, the crew describes the highlights of the March 1982 mission and shows some of the fun they had in orbit. The commander also tells how he accidentally "popped a wheelie" before bringing the nose gear down to the runway surface.
Seven months after the successful maiden voyage of space shuttle Columbia, astronauts Joe Engle and Richard Truly took the orbiter back into space on mission STS-2. The November 12, 1981 launch demonstrated that the space shuttle was the world's first reusable manned spacecraft. Although their mission would be cut short, Engle and Truly performed the first tests of the shuttle's Canadian-made robotic arm. The crew tells the story of the mission in this post-flight presentation.
