VIDEO: NASA’s Latest Tracking, Data Relay Satellite System Arrives In Titusville For August Launch
By Linda Herridge. // June 26, 2017
Astrotech Space Ops prepares TDRS for launch
ABOVE VIDEO: The first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite was launched in 1983 on the Space Shuttle Challenger’s’s first flight, STS-6. The Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage that was to take the satellite from Challenger’s orbit to its ultimate geosynchronous orbit suffered a failure that caused it not to deliver the TDRS to the correct orbit. As a result, it was necessary to command the satellite to use its onboard rocket thrusters to move it into its correct orbit.
(NASA) – The next addition to NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) System has arrived in Florida to begin processing for its August launch.
The TDRS-M satellite, secured in a shipping container, was delivered Friday aboard a cargo aircraft that touched down at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville, Florida, near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center.
The spacecraft then was transported to the Astrotech Space Operations facility to begin preparations for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
TDRS-M will expand the capabilities of NASA’s Space Network to support space communication for an additional 15 years.
The network consists of TDRS satellites that transmit data to and from ground stations on Earth for NASA missions and expendable launch vehicles.
The Space Network allows scientists, engineers and control room staff to readily access data from missions like the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station.
Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems of El Segundo, California, built TDRS-M. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation Program, a part of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, is responsible for the TDRS network.
Launch management of the Atlas V launch service for TDRS-M is the responsibility of the mission directorate’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy.
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