Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report

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

Feb. 10, 2011

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

STATUS REPORT: ELV-021011

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Spacecraft: Glory
Launch Vehicle: Taurus XL 3110
Launch Site:  Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Launch Pad:  SLC 576E
Launch Date:  Feb. 23, 2011
Launch Time: 2:09:43 a.m. PST
Altitude/Inclination: 440 miles/98.2 degrees 

On Feb. 5, the encapsulated Glory spacecraft was transported from the 
Astrotech payload processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base to 
the launch pad and electrically mated horizontally with the Taurus XL 
third stage. On Feb. 6, the ELaNa CubeSat secondary payloads within 
their self-contained deployer also were taken to the pad and 
integrated with the Taurus XL rocket.

Flight Simulation No. 3 involving the upper stack occurred as planned 
Feb. 8. The fully integrated "upper stack," consisting of the 
encapsulated Glory spacecraft with Stages 1, 2 and 3, will be hoisted 
atop the Taurus XL Stage 0 on Feb. 15. The Combined Systems Test on 
Feb. 17 will test the entire launch vehicle once the upper stack has 
been integrated with Stage 0.

Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand 
how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect 
Earth's climate. Both aerosols and solar energy influence the 
planet's energy budget -- the amount of energy entering and exiting 
Earth's atmosphere. An accurate measurement of these impacts is 
important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and 
how they may affect human life.

Project management for Glory is the responsibility of NASA's Goddard 
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The launch management for the 
mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at 
the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orbital Sciences Corp. of 
Dulles, Va., is the launch service provider to Kennedy of the 
four-stage Taurus XL rocket and is also builder of the Glory 
satellite for Goddard.

Previous status reports are available at:

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

	
-end-



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