WEBVTT

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From Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, this is Delta Launch Control at T minus 111 minutes, 34 seconds and counting. The launch

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countdown for the launch of NOAA-N for NASA and NOAA is on schedule for a liftoff at 3:22 a.m. this morning.

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The gantry-like mobile service tower was retracted from around the Boeing Delta II rocket earlier tonight at

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about eight o'clock. And the call to stations for NASA and the Boeing launch team was about 10:30 tonight.

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At this point we've completed the first stage nitrogen and helium pressurizations and the

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activities are on schedule. Our next major milestone will be the loading of liquid oxygen

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aboard the Delta II first stage in about a half hour. The Delta II launch vehicle that we're using

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this morning for NOAA-N is a Boeing-built 7320-10. This means it's a two-stage launch vehicle with

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three solid rocket boosters and a fairing that is ten feet in diameter.

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The NOAA-N satellite, as it sits atop the Delta II, is 14 feet long, six feet wide and weighs 3,130

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pounds. The launch is occurring from NASA Space Launch Complex Two located on North Vandenberg Air Force Base.

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NOAA-N is a polar-orbiting weather and environmental satellite for the National Oceanic and

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Atmospheric Administration. It was built by Lockheed Martin under a contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. And the spacecraft will be

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turned over to NOAA for operation 45 days after in-orbit checkout is completed by NASA and Lockheed Martin.

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It's the first of two identical satellites planned for launch within the next three years, also

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to be launched aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket here from Vandenberg at Space Launch Complex Two.

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We have with us now here in the Mission Director's Center at the public affairs console,

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Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, the Deputy Director of the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center responsible for the launch of NOAA-N.

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Dr. Whitlow, welcome. And, first of all, tell us -- we're here at Vandenberg, but what's important

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about the location? Why are we here as opposed to some other place in California or the US?

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DR. WHITLOW: This mission, a success, is that we need to cover an entire Earth surface with this

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mission, with the satellite's tracking. And so from Vandenberg, it's an ideal place to launch a

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satellite into a polar orbit going south out of the launch complex.

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MR. DILLER: What kind of spacecraft normally or ideally is suited for that kind of orbit or this

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kind of a launch or launch site? DR. WHITLOW: Such spacecraft that are suitable

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or ideal for this kind of mission, I'd say, are remote sensing satellites or weather satellites or

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even spy satellites. Any satellite that you want to use that will cover an entire surface.

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MR. DILLER: Now, sometimes a satellite will have a unique orbit relative to the sun. What do we

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call that kind of orbit and what is it? DR. WHITLOW: Well, we call it a sun-synchronous orbit. And we even have -- it's a

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special kind of -- special kind of polar orbit. And it is one where the satellite actually trails the

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Earth's shadow. And so it's always either in a sunrise or sunset position. And it's actually

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called a dawn to dusk orbit. And what that does, it allows the solar panels

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to always be -- or, most of the time, to be in sunlight. So the satellite operates primarily on

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solar power and relies very little on batteries. MR. DILLER: About how many spacecraft have we

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launched from Vandenberg -- has NASA launched, say, in the last five years or so?

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DR. WHITLOW: Well, since 2000, we've launched 11 scientific missions from Vandenberg Air Force

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Base. And the pace picks up a little bit over the next three years. So we have 12 missions scheduled over the next three years.

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MR. DILLER: In order for NASA to do this, what kind of infrastructure and assets do we need to maintain here?

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DR. WHITLOW: We are very good partners with the Air Force and here at Vandenberg, the 30th Space

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Wing. And we own and operate a number of facilities that are vital to the success of the launch process.

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We have -- we own and operate payload processing facilities at the base.

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We maintain a full-time staff at the NASA resident office that supports spacecraft prelaunch

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processing requirements. We own the Space Launch Complex Two here, from where we will launch this Delta II rocket tonight.

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We own and operate track and beta telemetry facilities that are key to the launch process as

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well as this Mission Director's Center from where the launch is being controlled tonight.

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MR. DILLER: Thank you, Dr. Whitlow and it looks like we're off on a good countdown for

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tonight, a good start. We'll be getting a weather briefing here in just a couple of minutes and,

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hopefully, for a launch at 3:22 this morning. Thank you for coming over and talking with us.

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DR. WHITLOW: Thank you, George. We're looking forward to a successful mission tonight.

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MR. DILLER: Thank you. At T minus 105 minutes, 40 seconds and counting, this is Delta Launch Control.

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