Kennedy News Center:
Phone: 321-867-2468
Fax: 321-867-2692
Recorded Updates: 321-867-2525
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern U.S. time, Monday through Friday
Updated -- Feb. 8, 2010
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, is set to launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Feb. 9. There is a one-hour launch window that extends from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. EST. Should the launch be postponed for 24 hours, the launch time on Feb. 10 is 10:26 to 11:26 a.m.
A prelaunch news conference will be held at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Press Site on Monday, Feb. 8, at 1 p.m. Participating in the briefing will be:
- Michael Luther
Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
- Omar Baez
NASA Launch Director for SDO
- Vernon Thorp
Program Manager, NASA Missions, United Launch Alliance
- Elizabeth Citrin
SDO Project Manager
- Maj. Christopher Lovett
Launch Weather Officer, USAF 45th Weather Squadron, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Following the prelaunch news conference, a mission science briefing will be held beginning at 1:45 p.m. at the NASA News Center at Kennedy Space Center. Participating in the briefing will be:
- Madhulika Guhathakurta
NASA Headquarters
- Dean Pesnell
SDO Project Scientist
- Phil Scherrer
Principal Investigator, Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, Stanford University
- Alan Title
Principal Investigator, Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory
- Tom Woods
Principal Investigator, Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado
There will be a media opportunity to observe rollout of the Atlas V rocket from the Vertical Integration Facility to the launch pad on Monday, Feb. 8. Media should be at Kennedy's Press Site at 7:15 a.m. for transportation by government bus to the viewing location near Launch Complex 41.
Photographers who wish to set up remote sound-activated cameras at the Atlas V launch pad will depart by government bus from the parking lot at the Kennedy Press Site at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 8
For information on the Solar Dynamics Observatory, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/index.html
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