[IGSMAIL-3785]: GRACE mission ready for launch

[Christoph Reigber]

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IGS Electronic Mail      15 Mar 05:16:54 PST 2002      Message Number 3785
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Author: Byron Tapley, Christoph Reigber

Dear colleagues,

at 1:00 pm in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany on March 15 all components
required for the launch of GRACE and the early orbit phase are on green
and fueling of the LV is under way. So we all can expect that with
launching the GRACE satellites on March 16, 2002 at 9:23 UT from the
Plesetsk Kosmodrome, Russia the next LEO adventure for the IGS and ILRS
can begin, this time with twins.
The launch can be viewed under a satellite feed from Plesetsk through
the German Space Operations Center at Oberpfaffenhofen. NASA Select TV
will cover the GRACE launch live from Plesetsk with interviews from GSOC
immediately following. Due to the timing of the launch, the program will
be repeated on NASA Select throughout the day and there has been
discussion of repeating the broadcast on Monday, the first working day
of the week.
We appreciate the support of all ILRS and IGS infrastructure components
and build on your continuing enthusiasm and high expertise demonstrated
already for CHAMP.

Best regards

Byron
Tapley
Chris Reigber

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Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr.-Ing. E.h. Christoph Reigber
GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ)
Division 1: Kinematics & Dynamics of the Earth
Telegrafenberg A 17, D-14473 Potsdam, Germany

phone: +49 (0)331 288-1100, -1101 (secr.)
fax: +49 (0)331 288-1111
e-mail: reigber at gfz-potsdam.de
www: http://www.gfz-potsdam.de/