Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report - July 17, 2009

July 17, 2009

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468


STATUS REPORT: ELV-071709

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: Space Tracking and Surveillance System - Demonstrators
Program (STSS-Demo)
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-10
Launch Pad: Launch Pad 17 B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: Sept. 15, 2009
Launch Window: 8:43 - 9:43 p.m. EDT

At Pad B on Launch Complex 17, liquid oxygen leak checks of the first
stage are scheduled next week on July 20. For this test, the first
stage will be filled with liquid oxygen during a simulated countdown.

At the pad the following day, July 21, a simulated flight test will
be
conducted. This is an electrical and mechanical test of the Delta II
that exercises all of the launch vehicle systems in the same manner
as will occur during powered flight.



Mission: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V-401
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Timeframe: November

The SDO spacecraft arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations payload
processing facility near the Kennedy Space Center in late afternoon
July 9. In the airlock the following day, the lid of the shipping
container was removed. On July 11, the spacecraft was rotated from
the horizontal to vertical configuration and hoisted onto a work
dolly. It was then moved from the airlock into the clean room. On
July 13, the protective wrapping was removed from around SDO to begin
the spacecraft processing.

The high-gain communications antenna was lowered to horizontal on
July
15, providing access to the spacecraft's battery compartment. The
flight battery was installed later that day and electrical
connections are now under way.



Previous status reports are available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/...tus/index.html

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