NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

STATUS REPORT : ELV-020306 Expendable Launch Vehicle Status Report MISSION: Space Technology 5 (ST5)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL
LAUNCH SITE: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
LAUNCH DATE: Feb. 28, 2006
LAUNCH WINDOW: 5:57:21 a.m. - 7:19:21 a.m. PST
TARGETED DROP TIME: 6:04 a.m. PST

• The ST5 spacecraft is being mated to the Pegasus XL rocket today in the Orbital Sciences hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.



• Pegasus Flight Simulation No. 4, an integrated test with the ST5 spacecraft, is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 8.



• ST5 final functional testing and spacecraft closeouts are scheduled for Feb. 11 and 12.



• The three-day operation to install the Pegasus vehicle fairing around the ST5 spacecraft is currently scheduled for Feb. 14 through 16.

MISSION: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar & Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation/CloudSat (CALIPSO/CloudSat)
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Boeing Delta 7420 with Dual Payload Attach Fitting
LAUNCH PAD: Space Launch Complex 2
LAUNCH SITE: Vandenberg Air Force Base, California
LAUNCH DATE: Under Review
LAUNCH WINDOW: TBD

• The strike against Boeing by the International Association of Machinists was settled this week. A launch timeframe for CALIPSO/CloudSat is under review pending resolution of any technical issues.



• CALIPSO and CloudSat are installed in the Dual Payload Attach Fitting at the Astrotech payload processing facilities on north Vandenberg. They will remain there until a new launch date is determined and then be prepared for transportation to NASA's Space Launch Complex 2.



• Further Delta II preparations at the launch pad are on hold until the CALIPSO/CloudSat payloads arrive for installation atop the second stage.

Previous status reports are available on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2006

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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