NASA's GLAST Launch Successful
baa...@earthlink.net
J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.har...@nasa.gov
Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4044/443-858-1779
robert....@nasa.gov
George Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-861-7643
george....@nasa.gov
Lynn Cominsky
Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Calif.
707-695-7140
ly...@universe.sonoma.edu
RELEASE: 08-141
NASA'S GLAST LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- NASA's Gamma-ray Large Area
Space Telescope, or GLAST, successfully launched aboard a Delta II
rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 12:05 p.m.
EDT today.
The GLAST observatory separated from the second stage of the Delta II
at 1:20 p.m. and the flight computer immediately began powering up
the components necessary to control the satellite. Twelve minutes
after separating from the launch vehicle, both GLAST solar arrays
were deployed. The arrays immediately began producing the power
necessary to maintain the satellite and instruments. The operations
team continues to check out the spacecraft subsystems.
"The entire GLAST Team is elated the observatory is now on-orbit and
all systems continue to operate as planned," said GLAST program
manager Kevin Grady of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md.
After a 75-minute flight, the GLAST spacecraft was deployed into low
Earth orbit. It will begin to transmit initial instrument data after
about three weeks. The telescope will explore the most extreme
environments in the universe, searching for signs of new laws of
physics and investigating what composes mysterious dark matter. It
will seek explanations for how black holes accelerate immense jets of
material to nearly light speed, and look for clues to crack the
mysteries behind powerful explosions known as gamma-ray bursts.
"After a 60-day checkout and initial calibration period, we'll begin
science operations," said Steve Ritz, GLAST project scientist at
Goddard. "GLAST soon will be telling scientists about many new
objects to study, and this information will be available on the
internet for the world to see."
NASA's GLAST mission is an astrophysics and particle physics
partnership, developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of
Energy, along with important contributions from academic institutions
and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden and the U.S.
For more information about the GLAST mission, please visit:
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
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