SPACECRAFT AND EXPENDABLE VEHICLES STATUS REPORT

August 6, 2004

George H. Diller
NASA Kennedy Space Center
321-867-2468

MISSION: MESSENGER
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Delta II Heavy
LAUNCH PAD: 17-B, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: Aug. 3, 2004
LAUNCH WINDOW: 02:15:56 - 02:16:08 a.m. EDT

NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft was launched successfully from Pad 17-B on August 3, 2004 at 2:15:56.537 a.m. EDT. Spacecraft separation from the Boeing Delta II occurred at 3:12 a.m. EDT. Successful deployment of the solar arrays was confirmed by the Hawaii tracking station at 3:25 a.m. The overall state of health of the spacecraft was relayed through the Deep Space Network tracking station at Goldstone, Calif., and confirmed as nominal at the MESSENGER spacecraft control center located at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.