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Environmental tests for Wideband Gapfiller Satellite BOEING NEWS RELEASE Posted: June 1, 2006 The first of three Wideband Gapfiller Satellites (WGS) developed by The Boeing Company has successfully completed key dynamic environmental tests, confirming the spacecraft's structural design and mechanical integrity.
"These rigorous environmental tests encompass the loads associated with both Atlas and Delta medium class Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles," said U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Steve Hargis, WGS program manager. "The WGS spacecraft successfully passed the mechanical tests that will allow it to fly on both the Atlas and Delta launch vehicles." During the vibration test, the WGS spacecraft was shaken in three independent axes to test its ability to withstand the forces of launch vehicle liftoff and ascent into orbit. The nine-day vibration test included multiple runs at progressively higher levels to demonstrate that the spacecraft will survive in predicted environments. The spacecraft also successfully passed acoustic stress testing, during which the WGS team used high-powered speakers to verify the spacecraft's ability to tolerate the high sound pressure levels associated with specific launch events. Launch pad decibel levels are nearly four times higher than the levels found near a jet engine. The acoustic test chamber simulates the launch noise of several launch vehicles in use today. The WGS spacecraft also passed a series of tests that confirmed its deployable appendages, such as the solar wings, heat radiator panels and Ka-band antennas, will release correctly. Boeing is preparing the spacecraft for thermal vacuum testing, which will confirm its ability to operate in a vacuum and under the extreme temperatures of space. Boeing is under contract to build three satellites for the WGS program. The U.S. Air Force also has authorized Boeing to begin non-recurring engineering and advanced procurement of parts for a fourth WGS satellite. The WGS system is a multi-spacecraft constellation designed to provide improved communications support for America's warfighters. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.8 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer; a foremost developer of advanced concepts and technologies; a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services. |
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Space shuttle Columbia began mission STS-61C with a beautiful sunrise launch in January 1986 after several delays. Led by commander Hoot Gibson, the astronauts deployed a commercial communications satellite and tended to numerous experiments with the Materials Science Laboratory, Hitchhiker platform and Getaway Special Canisters in the payload bay. The crew included Congressman Bill Nelson of Florida, the first U.S. Representative to fly in space. Watch this post-flight film narrated by the astronauts.
The Boeing Delta 4 rocket launches from pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with the GOES-N spacecraft, beginning a new era in weather observing for the Americas.
As night fell over Kennedy Space Center on May 19, space shuttle Discovery reached launch pad 39B to complete the slow journey from the Vehicle Assembly Building. Discovery will be traveling much faster in a few weeks when it blasts off to the International Space Station.
The November 1985 flight of space shuttle Atlantis began with a rare nighttime blastoff. The seven-member crew, including a Mexican payload specialist, spent a week in orbit deploying three communications satellites for Australia, Mexico and the U.S. And a pair of high-visibility spacewalks were performed to demonstrate techniques for building large structures in space. The crew narrates the highlights of STS-61B in this post-flight crew film presentation.
Eight astronauts, the largest crew in history, spent a week in space during the fall of 1985 aboard shuttle Challenger for mission STS-61A, the first flight dedicated to the German Spacelab. The crew worked in the Spacelab D-1 laboratory conducting a range of experiments, including a quick-moving sled that traveled along tracks in the module. A small satellite was ejected from a canister in the payload bay as well. The astronauts narrate the highlights of the mission in this post-flight film.