NASA Targets Space Telescope Launch for June 7

NASA has set June 7 as the new target launch date for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window extends from 11:45 a.m. to 1:40 p.m. EDT and remains unchanged through Aug.
7.

NASA had targeted June 5 for the GLAST launch aboard a Delta II rocket. Additional time was necessary for the Delta II launch team to assure that open engineering issues, which have been under review, are satisfactorily resolved, the space agency says.

GLAST is a powerful space observatory that will open a wide window on the universe. Gamma rays are the highest-energy form of light, and the gamma-ray sky is spectacularly different from the one we perceive with our own eyes. With a huge leap in all key capabilities, GLAST data will enable scientists to answer persistent questions across a broad range of topics, including supermassive black-hole systems, pulsars, the origin of cosmic rays, and searches for signals of new physics.

The GLAST prelaunch news conference is planned for 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 5, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center News Center. Question and answer capability will be available from participating NASA locations.

The placement of remote cameras at Pad 17-B is planned for 1 p.m. on Friday, June 6.

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GLAST Satellite Arrives At Naval Research Lab for Testing

NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) has arrived at the Naval Research
Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, for its final round of testing.

The GLAST spacecraft has successfully completed two of its three environmental tests at the prime contractor, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems in Gilbert, Ariz. These tests included exposure to extreme vibrations and electromagnetic fields. "We've completed two of the big three tests, and now we're going to the NRL to perform the third," says GLAST project manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

On Nov. 26, the spacecraft began its drive across the country in a specially modified truck. GLAST arrived at NRL on November 28. At NRL, the spacecraft will undergo thermal and vacuum testing to ensure that it can survive the 90-degree F (50-degree C) temperature swings it will experience in Earth orbit.

"Although gamma rays can travel billions of light-years across the universe, they can't penetrate Earth's atmosphere, so we must launch our instruments into space. We need to ensure the observatory can function in the space environment, and that is the main goal of the testing about to take place," says GLAST project scientist Steve Ritz of NASA Goddard.

After GLAST finishes the thermal-vac testing, it will be trucked or flown to Cape Canaveral, Fla. There, the solar arrays and flight battery will be added to the spacecraft, and it will be fueled with propellant. The launch, aboard a Delta II Heavy rocket, is scheduled for no earlier than May 29, 2008.

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