April 26, 2012
In The Loop: Getting Ready For Kennedy
NASA’s twin RBSP spacecraft are getting ready for the voyage from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory to the Kennedy Space Center, scheduled for May 1.
Both spacecraft are shown in the bases of their individual custom-built shipping containers; spacecraft B has been sealed in protective bagging. Credit: JHU/APL
RBSP team members are shown carefully guiding the top of spacecraft B’s container onto the base using three guidance poles, which also help ensure the container is properly sealed for transport. After arrival in Florida, the spacecrafts’ systems and instruments will be re-integrated and re-tested before a scheduled launch on August 23, 2012. Credit: JHU/APL
The Radiation Belt Storm Probes mission is part of NASA’s Living With a Star program, which is managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., manages the mission and is building and will operate the RBSP spacecraft for NASA. |