Discovery lifts off from Cape Canaveral, July 26. Photo coutesy of NASA.

Aerospace Supports the Return to
Flight of the Space Shuttle

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (7/26/05) -- With the successful launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery, STS-114, at 10:39 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral, The Aerospace Corporation celebrates the nation’s return to space travel.

Aerospace team members supported the activities of the shuttle program’s Mission Management Team at the Kennedy Space Center's fire control room, Johnson Space Center's mission control center, and one of the radar sites that collected data to be used in analysis of any launch debris events during the July 26 launch.

The Aerospace Corporation has been a technical advisor to the space shuttle program since its inception in 1972, when congressional approval was given to NASA to develop the Space Transportation System, or STS.

During the 1980s and 1990s the corporation provided mission planning and integration support for launches of the entire shuttle fleet.

Under the company’s current contract with NASA, Aerospace provides the shuttle program office with systems engineering, safety and mission assurance and technical analysis. The corporation also supported the Columbia Accident Investigation Board in 2003, including analyzing shuttle debris and performing trajectory modeling and analysis.

Discovery is slated to dock with the International Space Station at 7:18 a.m. EDT on July 28.

The Aerospace Corporation, with headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.