Mission: IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer)
Launch Vehicle: Pegasus XL (Orbital Sciences)
Launch Facility: Reagan Test Site, Kwajalein Pacific Atoll
Launch Date: Oct. 19, 2008
Launch Time: 1:44 p.m. – 1:52 p.m. EDT
(05:44 a.m. – 05:52 a.m. local Kwajalein time on Oct. 20)
After mating to the Orbital Sciences L-1011 carrier aircraft on Oct. 6, the aircraft carrying the Pegasus XL rocket with IBEX departed Vandenberg Air Force Base Oct. 11.
After an overnight stop at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, the ferry flight continued and arrived at the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific Oct. 12. The following day, an IBEX spacecraft state of health check was performed without problems.
A Combined Systems Test to verify the status of the integrated Pegasus/IBEX with the L-1011 and data communications interfaces with the Reagan Test Site was done on Oct. 15. A launch countdown dress rehearsal was successfully conducted on Oct. 16. Wheels-up from Kwajalein for the launch is scheduled for 12:50 p.m. on Oct. 19. Pegasus deployment from the L-1011 carrier aircraft is targeted to occur within the eight-minute launch window at 1:48 p.m.
Previous status reports are available at:
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2008
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George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov