NASA Launches 12th Satellite in TDRS Project into Orbit

NASA successfully launched the 12th spacecraft in its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) project late Thursday.

The satellite, referred to as TDRS-L, is now safely in orbit after being launched from United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, NASA reported.

TDRS-L is part of a network of communications satellites that provide tracking, telemetry, command and high bandwidth data return services for numerous science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth, including the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope, launch vehicles and other spacecraft.

The satellite is identical to the TDRS-K satellite launched in 2013. There are now nine TDRS spacecraft in geostationary orbit, four of which have exceeded their anticipated mission life.

"TDRS-L and the entire TDRS fleet provide a vital service to America's space program by supporting missions that range from Earth-observation to deep space discoveries," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. "TDRS also will support the first test of NASA's new deep space spacecraft, the Orion crew module, in September. This test will see Orion travel farther into space than any human spacecraft has gone in more than 40 years."

Jeffrey Gramling, TDRS project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., said the successful launch of the latest TDRS satellite will ensure the services that many space missions rely upon every day will continue.

TDRS-M, the next spacecraft in this series, is on track to be ready for launch in late 2015, NASA said in a statement.