March 24, 2009 George H. Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 321-867-2468 george.h.diller@nasa.gov STATUS REPORT: ELV-032409 EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT Mission: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-O) Launch Vehicle: Delta IV Launch Pad: 37-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Launch Date: No earlier than April 28, 2009 Launch Time: 6:24 - 7:24 p.m. EDT Preparations to prepare the GOES-O weather satellite for launch are going well and are on schedule. Closeouts of the imager, sounder and spacecraft optics were finished last week as planned. The star tracker light shades were also installed and the lenses cleaned. The spacecraft was placed on a special stand on Sunday for fueling preparations. The loading of hydrazine currently is scheduled for March 30. Mating GOES-O to the Delta IV payload attach fitting is planned for April 3 and will be followed by encapsulation into the fairing on April 6. The move to Launch Complex 37 for mating to the Delta IV is scheduled for April 14. At Launch Complex 37, checkout of the Delta IV and associated prelaunch preparations are also running on schedule. The "wet dress rehearsal," a countdown dress rehearsal with the rocket fully fueled, is currently planned to occur on April 8. Boeing Satellite System built the GOES-O spacecraft with the launch service being provided to Boeing by United Launch Alliance. The NASA Launch Services Program at Kennedy is supporting the launch in an advisory role. NASA spacecraft project management for GOES-O is the responsibility of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. After launch, once Boeing and NASA have completed on-orbit checkout and the spacecraft is operational, it will be turned over to NOAA. Mission: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LRO/LCROSS) Launch Vehicle: Atlas V Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Launch Date: May 21, 2009 Launch Time: 5:32 - 6:32 p.m. EDT NASA now is targeting May 21 for the launch of LRO/LCROSS instead of May 20 to optimize mission science. Last week, the LRO spacecraft team successfully completed tests of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera and performed a Mini-Radio Frequency Comprehensive Performance Test. A black light cleanliness inspection also was done. Previous status reports are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index.html -end- To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters.nasa.gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters.nasa.gov
