Welcome to Launch Week: Just one week to go and the excitement is building here at the Cape and in the Flight Operations areas at Lockheed Martin in Denver and at JPL. As you already know, if you've been watching the action through the WebCams, spacecraft close out activities were completed in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF). The spacecraft was given a final weighing, mated with the Star-37 upper stage, and transported to Pad SLC-17A. There it was hoisted to the top of the Delta II's second stage and secured in place in the "White Room". The transport canister was removed, the room stabilized for cleanliness and the clean-air shroud installed. Spin table rotation was checked and Friday the spacecraft was powered-up, completed "aliveness testing," and flight software updates were loaded and successfully checked out on both sides of the flight computer.
The launch vehicle team held their Launch Site Readiness Review on Wednesday. Progress is ahead of schedule on the Delta rocket. On Thursday, a Delta II sister rocket launch was attempted at Vandenburg AFB, CA. The launch was aborted moments before lift-off when one of its two vernier engines did not ignite. The rocket detected the problem and stopped the ignition sequence prior to the ignition of the main engine. Boeing believes they understand what happened and, at present, we don't believe this event will delay the STARDUST launch next Saturday.
We are one week from Launch!! Our launch is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 6, 1999. There is a single instantaneous launch opportunity available that day at 4:06:42 p.m. EST. The next available window is on Sunday, Feb. 7 at 4:04:15 p.m. EST. Liftoff will occur from Pad A at Launch Complex 17 on Cape Canaveral Air Station.
Stardust will fly through the dust cloud that surrounds the nucleus of a comet-and for the first time ever, bring cometary material back to earth. The spacecraft will also collect interstellar dust from a recently discovered flow of particles that passes through our solar system from interstellar space. Comets may be the oldest, most primitive bodies in the solar system, a preserved record of the original nebula that formed the Sun and the planets.
A prelaunch news conference is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. EST in the KSC News Center auditorium. This will be broadcast on NASA Select cable TV. Participating in the briefing will be:
Dr. Carl Pilcher, Science Director, Solar System Exploration
NASA Headquarters
Ray Lugo, NASA Launch Manager
Kennedy Space Center
Rich Murphy, Delta Mission Director/Flight Director
The Boeing Company
Dr. Kenneth Atkins, Stardust Project Manager/Spacecraft Mission Director
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Joseph Vellinga, Stardust Program Manager
Lockheed Martin Astronautics
Dr. Donald Brownlee, Stardust Principal Investigator