From Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, this is Delta Launch Control at T minus 111 minutes, 34 seconds and counting. The launch
countdown for the launch of NOAA-N for NASA and NOAA is on schedule for a liftoff at 3:22 a.m. this morning.
The gantry-like mobile service tower was retracted from around the Boeing Delta II rocket earlier tonight at
about eight o'clock. And the call to stations for NASA and the Boeing launch team was about 10:30 tonight.
At this point we've completed the first stage nitrogen and helium pressurizations and the
activities are on schedule. Our next major milestone will be the loading of liquid oxygen
aboard the Delta II first stage in about a half hour. The Delta II launch vehicle that we're using
this morning for NOAA-N is a Boeing-built 7320-10. This means it's a two-stage launch vehicle with
three solid rocket boosters and a fairing that is ten feet in diameter.
The NOAA-N satellite, as it sits atop the Delta II, is 14 feet long, six feet wide and weighs 3,130
pounds. The launch is occurring from NASA Space Launch Complex Two located on North Vandenberg Air Force Base.
NOAA-N is a polar-orbiting weather and environmental satellite for the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration. It was built by Lockheed Martin under a contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. And the spacecraft will be
turned over to NOAA for operation 45 days after in-orbit checkout is completed by NASA and Lockheed Martin.
It's the first of two identical satellites planned for launch within the next three years, also
to be launched aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket here from Vandenberg at Space Launch Complex Two.
We have with us now here in the Mission Director's Center at the public affairs console,
Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, the Deputy Director of the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center responsible for the launch of NOAA-N.
Dr. Whitlow, welcome. And, first of all, tell us -- we're here at Vandenberg, but what's important
about the location? Why are we here as opposed to some other place in California or the US?
DR. WHITLOW: This mission, a success, is that we need to cover an entire Earth surface with this
mission, with the satellite's tracking. And so from Vandenberg, it's an ideal place to launch a
satellite into a polar orbit going south out of the launch complex.
MR. DILLER: What kind of spacecraft normally or ideally is suited for that kind of orbit or this
kind of a launch or launch site? DR. WHITLOW: Such spacecraft that are suitable
or ideal for this kind of mission, I'd say, are remote sensing satellites or weather satellites or
even spy satellites. Any satellite that you want to use that will cover an entire surface.
MR. DILLER: Now, sometimes a satellite will have a unique orbit relative to the sun. What do we
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
special kind of -- special kind of polar orbit. And it is one where the satellite actually trails the
Earth's shadow. And so it's always either in a sunrise or sunset position. And it's actually
called a dawn to dusk orbit. And what that does, it allows the solar panels
to always be -- or, most of the time, to be in sunlight. So the satellite operates primarily on
solar power and relies very little on batteries. MR. DILLER: About how many spacecraft have we
launched from Vandenberg -- has NASA launched, say, in the last five years or so?
DR. WHITLOW: Well, since 2000, we've launched 11 scientific missions from Vandenberg Air Force
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.
MR. DILLER: In order for NASA to do this, what kind of infrastructure and assets do we need to maintain here?
DR. WHITLOW: We are very good partners with the Air Force and here at Vandenberg, the 30th Space
Wing. And we own and operate a number of facilities that are vital to the success of the launch process.
We have -- we own and operate payload processing facilities at the base.
We maintain a full-time staff at the NASA resident office that supports spacecraft prelaunch
processing requirements. We own the Space Launch Complex Two here, from where we will launch this Delta II rocket tonight.
We own and operate track and beta telemetry facilities that are key to the launch process as
well as this Mission Director's Center from where the launch is being controlled tonight.
MR. DILLER: Thank you, Dr. Whitlow and it looks like we're off on a good countdown for
tonight, a good start. We'll be getting a weather briefing here in just a couple of minutes and,
hopefully, for a launch at 3:22 this morning. Thank you for coming over and talking with us.
DR. WHITLOW: Thank you, George. We're looking forward to a successful mission tonight.
MR. DILLER: Thank you. At T minus 105 minutes, 40 seconds and counting, this is Delta Launch Control.