3-ton satellite arrives in Florida, preparing for launch

Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
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GOES-T’s shipping container is opened at Astrotech Space Operations. Photo credit: NASA

Before launching into space, an advanced 6,000-pound satellite arrived at its final Earth-bound location, the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service, the final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-U) arrived safely at Florida’s Space Center on Tuesday.

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The GOES-U satellite is loaded onto a C-5M Super Galaxy cargo transport at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado on Jan. 22, 2024. Photo credit: NASA

The GOES-U satellite is scheduled to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket no earlier than April 30.

However, before that launch happens, they had to get the satellite to the launch site, and a lot of work goes into transporting a three-ton satellite the size of a small school bus.

The GOES-U satellite was securely packed into a container, essentially acting as a “mobile clean room.” The spacecraft team from Lockheed Martin in Littleton, Colorado shipped the satellite inside the makeshift cleanroom, where it arrived at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado.

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Fueling the GOES-S satellite. Photo credit: Lockheed Martin

Once at the Buckley Space Force Base, crews loaded the C-5M Super Galaxy cargo transport, which was then taken to Florida.

According to the United States Air Force, a C-5M Super Galaxy is the largest aircraft in the Air Force. The aircraft has a cargo load of more than 275,000 pounds.

After the satellite landed at the NASA Launch and Landing Facility airstrip at the Kennedy Space Center, it was taken to Titusville.

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A side booster from SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket successfully lands at the company’s landing zone at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, just minutes after NASA’s Psyche launch from Kennedy Space Center.

In Titusville, the GOES-U will undergo electrical tests at the Astrorech Space Operations spacecraft processing facility. This is to ensure everything works properly before launching into space.

Click here to read more about what went into the GOES-U journey before launching into space.

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