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Multiple Launches Are Scheduled

By Staff Writer | June 26, 2006

      Myriad launches are keeping launch pads busy, according to announcements:

      On June 21, The Boeing Co. [BA] announced that the GOES-N satellite, the first of three in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites constellation, reached its orbital slot 22,300 miles above the equator. It was lifted by a Boeing Delta IV rocket.

      On June 21, a Delta II lifted a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) technology experiment from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

      On June 24, a Soyuz mission saw a Russian Progress 22 automated freighter lift off from Baikonur Cosmodrome to bring about 2.5 tons of equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.

      On June 27, a Delta 4 boosts a classified satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

      On July 1, the Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on the STS-121 mission carrying supplies to the International Space Station, while also using multiple cameras to check for chunks of foam breaking off that might damage the shuttle. (Please see full story in this issue.)

      In mid-July, there will be a missile defense test involving the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense system.

      On July 22, NASA will launch the STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, at 3:11 to 3:13 p.m. or 4:19 to 4:34 p.m. ET, using a Boeing Delta II lifter.

      In 2009, Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] will launch the Mars Science Laboratory on an Atlas V 541 from Cape Canaveral.