Melissa Mathews Headquarters, Washington August 26, 2005 (Phone: 202/358-1272)

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla (Phone: 321/867-2468)

NASA EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT: E05-009

 Mission: Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation and CloudSat (CALIPSO/CloudSat)

Launch Vehicle: Boeing Delta 7420 w/Dual Payload Attach Fitting (DPAF) Launch Pad: Space Launch Complex 2 (SLC2), Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif Launch Date: NET, September 29, 2005

The CloudSat spacecraft was fueled Aug 14 and the fuel tanks pressurized Aug 15; CALIPSO was fueled Aug 24 and the fuel tanks pressurized Aug 25 CloudSat was mated to the DPAF Aug 23 Installation of the upper half of the DPAF for CALIPSO was completed today The CALIPSO Mission Readiness Review was today The CloudSat Mission Readiness Review is scheduled for Thursday, Sept 1

As a part of the NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder program, CALIPSO is a collaborative effort with the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Ball Aerospace, Hampton University, Va and France's Institut Pierre Simon Laplace

Ball Aerospace is responsible for CALIPSO's scientific instrument and communications suite, including the lidar and Wide Field Camera NASA's Launch Services Program at KSC provides government launch services for this mission through Boeing Expendable Launch Systems

Previous status reports are available on the Web at:

  http://www
nasa
gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2005

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