WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System

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is vital in keeping in contact with the space
agency's numerous

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spacecraft orbiting Earth including the International
Space Station

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and Hubble Space Telescope.

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The key to the system is a constellation of
large,

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robust satellites equipped with state-of-the-art
communications equipment.

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The 11th such satellite, TDRS-K,

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was launched January 31, 2013,

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on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

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The United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
pushed the spacecraft

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to a position 22,000 miles in space.

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There it will orbit the Earth at the same
speed as the Earth's rotation,

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meaning it will appear to hover above one
place on Earth.

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After unfolding its communications antennae
and solar arrays,

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the 7,600-pound spacecraft was ready for service collecting

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data and commands from other NASA spacecraft
orbiting below it,

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The information was then sent to ground stations

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where researchers could decipher the research
and readings.