Updated — June 4, 2009 – 4 p.m. EDT
Legend: + Targeted For | *No Earlier Than (Tentative) | ** To Be Determined
2009 Launches
Date: June 13
Mission: STS-127
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 7:17 a.m. EDT
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the exposed facility of Japan’s Kibo laboratory to the International Space Station.
Date: June 17
Mission: LRO/LCROSS
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 41
Launch Time: 3:51 p.m. EDT
Other Launch Opportunities: 4:01 p.m., 4:11 p.m. EDT
Description: LRO will launch with the objectives to finding safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment and test new technology. The Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, mission is seeking a definitive answer about the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater at either the Moon’s North or South Pole.
Date: June 26 *
Mission: GOES-O
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta IV
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Pad 37-B
Launch Window: 6:14 – 7:14 p.m. EDT
Description: NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are actively engaged in a cooperative program, the multi-mission Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite series N-P. This series will be a vital contributor to weather, solar and space operations, and science.
Date: Aug. 6 +
Mission: STS-128
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery will use a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to carry experiment and storage racks to the International Space Station.
Date: Aug 17 *
Mission: STSS Demonstrators Program – Missile Defense Agency
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 17, Pad B
Description: STSS Demonstrators Program is a midcourse tracking technology demonstrator and is part of an evolving ballistic missile defense system. STSS is capable of tracking objects after boost phase and provides trajectory information to other sensors and interceptors. To be launched by NASA for the Missile Defense Agency.
Date: Late August +
Mission: Ares I-X Flight Test
Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39B
Description: The Ares I-X flight test is NASA’s first test for the Agency’s new Constellation launch vehicle — Ares I. The Ares I-X flight will provide NASA with an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I.
Date: Oct. 14 *
Mission: SDO
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station – Launch Complex 41
Description: The first Space Weather Research Network mission in the Living With a Star (LWS) Program of NASA.
Date: Nov. 1 *
Mission: WISE
Description: The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will survey the entire sky in the mid-infrared with far greater sensitivity than any previous mission or program ever has. The WISE survey will consist of over a million images, from which hundreds of millions of astronomical objects will be cataloged.
Date: Nov. 12 +
Mission: STS-129
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis will deliver components including two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly and a spare latching end effector for the station’s robotic arm to the International Space Station.
2010 Launches
Date: Jan. 23 *
Mission: Glory
Launch Vehicle: Orbital Sciences Taurus Rocket
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – Launch Pad SLC 576-E
Description: The Glory Mission will help increase our understanding of the Earth’s energy balance by collecting data on the properties of aerosols and black carbon in the Earth’s atmosphere and how the Sun’s irradiance affects the Earth’s climate.
Date: Feb. 4 +
Mission: STS-130
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the International Space Station.
Date: March 18 +
Mission: STS-131
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery will carry a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks that will be transferred to laboratories of the International Space Station.
Date: May 14 +
Mission: STS-132
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Atlantis
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Atlantis mission will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module.
Date: May 23
Mission: Aquarius
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Delta II 7320
Launch Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base – SLC 2
Description: The Aquarius mission will provide the first-ever global maps of salt concentrations in the ocean surface needed to understand heat transport and storage in the ocean.
Date: July 29 +
Mission: STS-133
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Endeavour will deliver the Express Logistics Carrier 4 (ELC4), a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MLPM) and critical spare components to the International Space Station.
Date: Sept. 16 +
Mission: STS-134
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Discovery
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center – Launch Pad 39A
Description: Space shuttle Discovery will deliver an EXPRESS Logistics Carrier-3 (ELC-3) and an Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the International Space Station.
2011 Launches
Date: **
Mission: Mars Science Laboratory
Launch Vehicle: United Launch Alliance Atlas V
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Description: The Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or is still today, an environment able to support microbial life and to determine the planet’s habitability.
Source: NASA