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Atlas rocket to launch Mars Science Laboratory LOCKHEED MARTIN NEWS RELEASE Posted: June 6, 2006 Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rocket has been selected by NASA to launch the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission in 2009 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The mission will fly on a powerful Atlas V 541 configuration to propel MSL on its journey to the red planet.
Boosting the 7,900-lb. MSL spacecraft into a Mars transfer trajectory will require the Atlas V 541, similar to the Atlas V 551 that launched the New Horizons mission to Pluto in January. The 541 configuration includes four strap-on solid rocket boosters, each of which adds an additional 300,000 lbs. of thrust to the almost 1,000,000 lbs. provided by the core vehicle's RD-180 engine. The Atlas V 541 vehicle will also utilize a 5-meter fairing to protect the MSL payload on the ascent. Once the boost phase of flight is complete, the Centaur upper stage will perform two engine burns to place MSL into a Mars transfer trajectory. Scheduled for launch in the fall of 2009, MSL will land on the surface of Mars in summer 2010 and begin its two-year mission. Atlas V launched NASA's most recent Mars mission, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), in August 2005. It arrived at Mars in March 2006 and is executing a series of orbit-lowering maneuvers prior to beginning its primary science mission. MRO will help determine the landing site for MSL, and later it will serve as a communication relay for MSL once the lab is on the Martian surface. "After launching both of these spacecraft on Atlas, it will be very rewarding to see them working together on and around Mars," said Vernon Thorp, Atlas program manager for NASA mission at Lockheed Martin. "Atlas's performance and reliability help make missions like these possible." The space agency awarded the MSL launch to Lockheed Martin under the terms of the NASA Launch Services contract signed in 2000. This agreement was designed to be the primary way for NASA to procure launch services on the Atlas vehicle through 2010. Atlas V vehicles have now achieved 100% mission success in eight flights. Atlas II, III, and V configurations have achieved 79 consecutive one-at-a-time launch successes since 1993. In March Lockheed Martin was also selected to design the aeroshell system for the MSL mission. Lockheed Martin will design and build the system, which includes the composite load carrying structure and the thermal protection systems (TPS). The blunt-nosed cone will encapsulate and protect the MSL rover from the intense head and friction generated as the system descends through the Martin atmosphere. Atlas boosters and Centaur upper stages are built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company at facilities in Denver, Colo.; Harlingen, Texas; and San Diego, Calif. Atlas launch operations are conducted at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered in Denver, Colo., is one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a variety of advanced technology systems for military, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include a full-range of space launch systems, ground systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for commercial and government customers, advanced space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense systems. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 135,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2005 sales of $37.2 billion. |
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Space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale and launch director Mike Leinbach hold this news conference May 31 from Kennedy Space Center to offer a status report on STS-121 mission preparations. The briefing was held at the conclusion of the debris verification review, which examined the external fuel tank and threats to the shuttle from impacts during launch.
Dial-up: 
NASA created its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system to serve as a constellation of orbiting spacecraft that would replace the costly ground tracking stations scattered around the globe for communications with space shuttles and other satellites. Space shuttle Discovery's STS-29 mission in March 1989 launched the massive TDRS-D craft. This post-flight film narrated by the crew shows the deployment, the astronauts running a series of medical tests and the monitoring of a student-developed chicken embryo experiment.
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.