yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (02/17/89)
Weekly Payload Status
NASA Kennedy Space Center
February 16, 1989
TDRS-D/IUS-9 (Discovery-STS 29)
The Interface Verification Test (IVT) began at 10:00 a.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 15. This test verifies the connections between
IUS/TDRS and Discovery, and with the payload control console on
the flight deck of the orbiter. Astronaut James Bagian
participated in the test. The test was scheduled to last 22
hours, but with no significant problems it was able to be
completed in 17 1/2 hours.
The call to stations for the End-to-End test, which lasts 14
hours, is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. Friday, Feb. 17. This test
verifies the ability of ground stations to send commands and
receive responses from IUS/TDRS in the payload bay. Stations
participating will be connected via the orbiting TDRS-East and
through domestic communications satellite links. Scheduled to be
on the network for the test are the MILA tracking station at KSC,
the Johnson Space Center in Houston, the TDRS ground control
station at White Sands, the U.S. Air Force IUS control facility
at the Consolidated Satellite Test Center in Sunnyvale, Ca., and
the TRW plant in Redondo Beach, Ca.
MAGELLAN/IUS-18 (STS-30/Atlantis)
The IUS-18 Inertial Upper Stage arrived at KSC from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday, Feb. 13. The following
day it was hoisted into a test cell at the Vertical Processing
Facility.
On Wednesday Feb. 15, the Magellan spacecraft was moved by
special transporter from the SAEF-2 planetary spacecraft checkout
facility to the Vertical Processing Facility, arriving from the
3/4 mile trip at 11:30 a.m. During the day on Friday, Feb. 17 it
is scheduled to be mated with the Inertial Upper Stage.
A Magellan stand-alone test to verify the health of the
spacecraft is scheduled to follow on Friday night, Feb. 17, after
the mating is completed. Early next week electrical connections
between the IUS and Magellan are to be established, followed in
mid-week by the Interface Verifcation Test (IVT) to verify those
connections.
DELTA/COBE
The Delta first stage arrived at Hangar M on Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station on Feb. 9. After receiving inspections it then
was moved to an adjacent facility, joining the second stage for
mission specific modifications, electrical testing, and a
Simulated Flight test. The vehicle will be shipped to Vandenberg
Air Force Base in mid-March for erection on Space Launch Complex
2. Launch is scheduled in July.