The payload fairing halves were drawn together around the Intelsat 14 satellite this morning - the satellite will never be seen by human eyes again.Inspectors watched carefully to ensure clearances were maintained and many photographs were taken throughout the operation. After the encapsulation was complete, Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) rang up the spacecraft using the antenna inside the fairing (the “re-rad” horn), to verify continued communication capability. Everything has progressed smoothly.
Today and tomorrow, United Launch Alliance (ULA) will finish installing all the fairing separation system hardware and will prepare the encapsulated spacecraft for transportation to the launch pad. The transfer is slated to take place on Monday, 2 November. The Intelsat 14 satellite launch has to wait for the ULA staff to return from the Western Range at Vandenberg, California, where they are busy next week launching a weather satellite for the U.S. Government. Hopefully that launch won’t affect our scheduled launch date in mid-November.
~ Contributed by Daniel Lilienstein, Intelsat 14 Program Manager, Space Systems Acquisition, blogging from Cape Canaveral, Florida
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