TDRS-M Prelaunch News Conference

In the Kennedy Space Center's Press Site auditorium, NASA and industry leaders speak to members of the media at a prelaunch news conference for NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-M. Participants from left are: Kathryn Hambleton of NASA Communications, Tim Dunn, launch director at NASA Kennedy, Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator for Space Communications and Navigation at NASA Headquarters in Washington, Dave Littmann, project manager for TDRS-M at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, James Wilson III, Boeing program manager for NASA/Civil Space Programs, Scott Messer, United Launch Alliance program manager for NASA missions, and Clay Flinn, launch weather officer with the 45th Space Wing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. TDRS-M is the latest spacecraft destined for the agency's constellation of communications satellites that allows nearly continuous contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories. Liftoff atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled to take place from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:03 a.m. EDT Aug. 18.