NASA MARKS 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF TDRS ERA

GREENBELT, Md. -- On April 4, 1983, space shuttle Challenger began its maiden voyage carrying a new NASA satellite that would revolutionize low-Earth orbit communications forever. A prime objective of the sixth space shuttle mission was the deployment NASA's first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, also known as TDRS-A. The next day, astronauts released TDRS-A from the shuttle cargo bay.

GREENBELT, MD -- The space terminal for the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD), NASA's first high-data-rate laser communication system, was recently integrated onto the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) spacecraft at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.

GREENBELT, MD -- Technicians and engineers are completing final system checks and spacecraft inspections on the first of NASA's third-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS). Boeing will ship TDRS-K from its satellite assembly facility in El Segundo, Calif., to Cape Canaveral, Fla., in November.