Posted: Fri, Mar 8, 2002, 9:18 PM ET (0218 GMT)
An Atlas 2A successfully launched a TDRS communications satellite late Friday. The Atlas lifted off from Pad 36A at Cape Canaveral, Florida at 5:59 pm EST (2259 GMT) Friday. The launch was delayed 20 minutes because of problems with a monitoring system on the ground. Thirty minutes after launch the Atlas released its payload, the TDRS-I satellite, into geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite is the latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite used by NASA and other government agencies to communicate with the space shuttle, International Space Station, and other spacecraft. The launch is also the next to last for the Atlas 2A, a version of the Atlas 2 that uses no strap-on boosters; the final Atlas 2A launch, of another TDRS spacecraft, is scheduled for late this year.
