spacetoday.net: Atlas launches TDRS communications satellite

Posted: Fri, Jan 24, 2014, 6:19 AM ET (1119 GMT)
Atlas 5 launch of TDRS-L (NASA/KSC)

An Atlas 5 rocket successfully launched a satellite that supports communications with the International Space Station and other NASA spacecraft. The Atlas 5 401 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 9:33 pm EST Thursday (0233 GMT Friday) and released the TDRS-L satellite into a transfer orbit nearly two hours later. The launch was delayed by almost a half-hour because of a telemetry problem with the satellite that was later resolved. The Boeing-built satellite is the twelfth in a series of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) spacecraft that relay communications from the ISS and other orbiting spacecraft to the ground. TDRS-L will provide Ka-, Ku-, and S-band communications from its eventual location at 49 degrees west in GEO.