Apr 8 2003
From The Space Library
The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin launched the Milstar II military communications satellite into orbit aboard a Titan 4B launch vehicle with a Centaur upper stage. The satellite joined four other Milstar satellites already in orbit, completing the constellation. The Milstar constellation provided secure, global communication links for U.S. military joint forces, transmitting voice, data, and imagery, as well as providing video-teleconferencing capabilities. Milstar II was the third satellite to carry the Boeing Satellite Systems-built, medium-data-rate payload, which had 32 channels, each capable of processing data at speeds of 1.5 megabits per second. The craft carried a low-data-rate payload as well, built by Northrop Grumman Space Technology. (Lockheed Martin, “U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin Team up to Successfully Launch Final Milstar II Satellite on a Titan IV B Rocket,” news release, 8 April 2003, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/ press_releases/2003/USAirForceLockheedMartinTeamUpSucce.html (accessed 19 September 2008).
American astronauts Kenneth D. Bowersox and Donald R. Pettit undertook a 61/2-hour spacewalk at the ISS to finish preparing the station for the arrival of a new crew. In the second spacewalk of their four-month mission, Bowersox and Pettit worked on power connections, replaced lighting for a transport trolley, reconfigured cables on a navigational gyroscope, and secured covers on the station's thermal control system. Cosmonaut Nikolai M. Budarin monitored the astronauts' work from inside the ISS. (Reuters, “Astronauts End Space Walk from Orbiting Station,” 9 April 2003.
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