SPACECRAFT AND EXPENDABLE VEHICLES STATUS REPORTAugust 27, 2003 George
H. Diller Kennedy
Space Center 321/867-2468
MISSION: Space
Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) LAUNCH VEHICLE: Boeing Delta
II Heavy LAUNCH PAD: 17-B, Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station LAUNCH DATE: August 25, 2003 LAUNCH TIME: 1:35:39 a.m. EDT NASA’s Space
Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) was successfully launched on Monday, August
25, 2003, at 1:35:39.231 a.m. EDT.
SIRTF is the fourth and final spacecraft in NASA’s family of orbiting
“Great Observatories.” MISSION:
Gravity Probe B (GP-B) LAUNCH
VEHICLE: Delta II LAUNCH
PAD:
SLC-2, Vandenberg Air Force Base LAUNCH
DATE:
November 13, 2003 LAUNCH
TIME: 7:21 p.m. PST Gravity
Probe B is at NASA spacecraft processing hangar 1610 on North Vandenberg Air
Force Base. In processing
activities this week, the electromagnetic interference (EMI) test has been
successfully completed. The Gas
Management Assembly (GMA) “rate of rise” testing is under way and is successful
to date with three days of the test remaining. Certification testing of the pump module in preparation for
conditioning the dewar was successfully completed. The dewar conditioning, a process of pumping down the tank
to near vacuum conditions, is currently under way. Initial servicing to load the dewar 95 percent full of
cryogenic liquid helium is scheduled to begin next week. The spacecraft is currently on internal
power and a trickle charge of the battery is occurring. Loading of an updated version of the
mission software is pending. The
erection of the Boeing Delta II launch vehicle at Space Launch Complex 2
remains scheduled to begin on Sept. 15 with the erection of the first stage. Attachment of the nine strap-on solid
rocket boosters in sets of three is scheduled for Sept. 17-19. The second stage is planned for mating
atop the first stage on Sept. 22.
Gravity Probe B will be transported from the spacecraft hangar to Space Launch
Complex 2 on Oct. 29 and hoisted atop the second stage. The Delta II fairing
will be installed around the spacecraft on Nov. 5 as part of final preparations
for launch. - more- - 2- Gravity
Probe B arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base on July 11 from the Lockheed
Martin plant in Sunnyvale, Calif. Gravity
Probe B is a relativity experiment developed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center, Stanford University and Lockheed Martin. The spacecraft will test two extraordinary predictions of
Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity that he advanced in 1916. Gravity Probe B consists of four
sophisticated gyroscopes to be launched into a 400-mile-high orbit for a
mission lasting 18 to 24 months.
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