Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

[KSC News Center <ksc@mediaservices.nasa.gov>]

Nov. 6, 2009

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov

STATUS REPORT: ELV-110609

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Spacecraft: Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7320
Launch Pad:  SLC-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Date: Dec. 7, 2009 
Launch Window: 6:10 - 6:23 a.m. PST 

Testing has been conducted successfully on the Tracking & Data Relay 
Satellite transmitter that will be used on the rocket. It will relay 
vehicle data to the ground during the launch and will be evaluated 
for possible use on future Delta II missions from Vandenberg. Second 
stage propellant system qualification testing has been completed. 
Three days of guidance and control system checks are currently under 
way. The Delta II flight simulation is currently scheduled for Nov. 
11. The first stage will be loaded with liquid oxygen on Nov. 12 for 
leak checks and associated testing.

At the Astrotech payload processing facility on north Vandenberg, work 
continues to load and then freeze the cryogenic hydrogen. This 
activity is approximately 60 percent complete and will continue for 
about another week. This will be used to supercool the infrared 
telescope during its six months of observations. There then will be 
one final week of spacecraft testing before work begins to prepare 
WISE to move to the launch pad for integration with the Delta II. 



Spacecraft: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-401
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date:  Feb. 3, 2010
Launch Window: 10:53 - 11:53 a.m. EST 

Prelaunch testing is nearing completion that leads to the milestone of 
fueling the spacecraft in early January. As an outcome of electrical 
testing, the SDO test team currently is doing analysis of the 
spacecraft grounding system.

The Atlas rocket first-stage booster arrived by air at Cape Canaveral 
Air Force Station on Oct. 26. The Centaur upper stage is now 
scheduled to arrive in the late afternoon or early evening on Nov 16 
and be offloaded the following morning on Nov. 17. 



Previous status reports are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index.html 
 

	
-end-



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