Jan 8 2018
From The Space Library
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-007 NASA Invites Media to See NOAA Weather Spacecraft Before March Launch
Media are invited to view the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S), the second in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) series of next-generation geostationary weather satellites, at 9:30 a.m. EST Tuesday, Jan. 16.
This event, to be held at the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida, is an opportunity to photograph GOES-S and interview project and program officials. Media interested in attending this event must email ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov no later than noon on Thursday, Jan. 11.
Due to clean room requirements, no more than 20 individuals will be allowed to participate, and no more than two per media organization. This event is open only to U.S. citizens who possess a government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license, and proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate.
Facility Access
Please read these instructions carefully, or you may be denied access to the clean room.
Procedures for optically sensitive spacecraft must be followed by individuals entering the clean room where the spacecraft is being prepared for launch. Long pants and closed-toe shoes must be worn. No tank tops, shorts or skirts will be permitted. Full clean-room attire (bunny suits) must be worn and will be furnished. Please do not wear perfume, cologne, hair spray or makeup. Those wearing makeup will be required to remove it prior to entry.
Photographers will need to clean camera equipment under the supervision or assistance of contamination-control specialists. All camera equipment must be self-contained. Nonessential equipment, such as suede, leather or vinyl camera bags, carrying cases, camera straps, or accessories with Velcro must be left outside the clean room. No notebook paper, pencils or click-type ball point pens are permitted; clean-room paper and non-retractable ball point pens will be provided.
Use of wireless microphones and cell phones will be permitted if not contained in external cases or holding devices. Electronic flash will be permitted. The lighting in the facility is metal halide (white) for pictures. No food, chewing gum, tobacco, lighters, matches or pocketknives will be allowed and so should not be brought to the Astrotech clean room.
The GOES-R satellite series, which includes GOES-R, -S, -T and -U, is the nation’s most advanced fleet of geostationary weather satellites that will extend the availability of the operational GOES satellite system through 2036.
GOES-S is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at 5:02 p.m. EST Thursday, March 1, from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft will significantly improve the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and the nation's economic health and prosperity.
NOAA manages the GOES-R Series Program through an integrated NOAA-NASA office and is responsible for the science and data applications. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, provides spacecraft project management, systems engineering, and safety and mission assurance. Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and is responsible for spacecraft development, integration and testing.
Mission operations will be performed by NOAA at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. Harris Corp., of Melbourne, Florida, provided the main instrument payload, the Advanced Baseline Imager, the antenna system for data receipt and the ground segment. NASA’s Launch Services Program is responsible for launch management. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Atlas V launch service.
MEDIA ADVISORY M18-005 U.S. Cargo Spacecraft Set for Departure from International Space Station
After delivering more than 4,800 pounds of science and supplies to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft will depart the orbiting laboratory on Saturday, Jan. 13. NASA will provide live coverage of Dragon's departure beginning at 4:30 a.m. EST.
On Friday, Jan. 12, flight controllers will use the space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to detach Dragon from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module. After Dragon is maneuvered into place, a ground-controlled command will release the spacecraft as NASA’s Expedition 54 Flight Engineers Joe Acaba and Scott Tingle monitor its departure at 5 a.m. Saturday.
Dragon’s thrusters will fire to move the spacecraft a safe distance from the station before SpaceX flight controllers in Hawthorne, California, command its deorbit burn. The spacecraft will splash down about 10:36 a.m. in the Pacific Ocean, where recovery forces will retrieve Dragon and approximately 4,100 pounds of cargo, including science samples from human and animal research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities. NASA will not provide coverage of the deorbit burn and splashdown.
NASA and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), the nonprofit organization that manages research aboard the U.S. national laboratory portion of the space station, will receive time-sensitive samples from experiments conducted aboard the station and begin working with researchers to process and distribute them within 48 hours of splashdown.
Dragon, the only space station resupply spacecraft capable of returning science and cargo to Earth, launched Dec. 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and arrived at the station Dec. 17 for the company’s 13th NASA-contracted commercial resupply mission to the station.
