Feb 27, 2009

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

STATUS REPORT: ELV-022709

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: Kepler Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7925 Launch Pad: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla Launch Date: No Earlier Than March 6, 2009 Launch Time: 10:49:57 p m EST

Engineers are reviewing hardware on the Taurus launch vehicle for commonality with the Delta II rocket carrying the Kepler telescope On Tuesday, a Taurus XL rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory failed to achieve orbit Managers want to confirm there will not be any related issues with Kepler's Delta II

Kepler's original no-earlier-than March 5 launch date needed to be adjusted a day later to accommodate the additional time for analysis The March 6 target date still needs to be confirmed with the U S Air Force, which manages the eastern launch range Kepler's Flight Readiness Review meeting is on Monday, March 2

Kepler was moved to Launch Complex 17 on Feb 19 and placed in a staging facility The Kepler spacecraft was mated to its second stage on Feb 21 The payload fairing was installed around the Kepler spacecraft yesterday At Pad 17-B, mating of the spacecraft to the Delta II rocket occurred last weekend A spacecraft countdown launch rehearsal will be conducted on March 3

Mission: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LRO/LCROSS) Launch Vehicle: Atlas V Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla Launch Date: No Earlier Than May 20, 2009 Launch Time: TBD

NASA now is targeting May 20 for launch instead of April 24 after another Atlas V government launch, which is scheduled for liftoff in March, experienced technical problems and was delayed It will use the same launch pad that LRO/LCROSS will use

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, left Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif , on Feb 17 via truck and arrived at the Astrotech Facility in Titusville, Fla , near Kennedy Space Center, on Feb 19

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, arrived at the facility on Feb 13 The spacecraft was uncrated and transferred to a hazardous processing facility the same day, where covers were removed and technicians performed a black-light inspection The spacecraft's solar arrays were attached and deployed, and a spacecraft activation test was conducted on Feb 15

Several operations tests and simulations were conducted on both spacecraft during the past week

The Centaur stage arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Feb 20 It was offloaded and transported to the Atlas Spaceflight Operations Center facility on Feb 21 The launch vehicle fairing halves arrived at the payload processing facility on Feb 26

Previous status reports are available at:

http://www nasa gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/index html

-end-

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