Dec 2 2003
From The Space Library
NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance signed an agreement with the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to participate in each other's engineering investigations and technical analyses. The memorandum of agreement was the second that the two organizations had signed~the latest agreement between NASA and another organization managing high-risk operations. The previous agreement between NASA and NAVSEA had enabled the two to share information regarding critical supplier quality and performance.(NASA, “NASA Engineering Investigations Get Navy Input,” news release 03-393, 4 December 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03393_enginr_investgtns.html (accessed 23 March 2009).
The U.S. Air Force launched an Atlas 2-AS rocket carrying a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), marking the final launch of the II-AS model from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch cleared the way for officials from the military and from Lockheed Martin to begin renovating Launch Complex 3 to accommodate the Atlas 5 rocket. Renovation plans included raising the mobile service tower 30 feet (9.14 meters) to accommodate the taller launch vehicles, building a fixed launch platform, modifying the umbilical tower, and enlarging the flame trench. The Lockheed Martin Atlas team planned to launch the first Atlas 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2005. (Associated Press, “Air Force Sends Spy Satellite into Space,” 2 December 2003; Justin Ray, “Atlas Soars on Secret Mission Under Cover of Darkness,” Spaceflight Now, 2 December 2003.
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