April 11, 2008

George H. Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-867-2468
george.h.diller@nasa.gov

STATUS REPORT: ELV-041108

EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE STATUS REPORT

Mission: GLAST (Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope)
Location: Astrotech payload processing facility
Launch Vehicle: Delta II 7920-H
Launch Pad: 17-B
Launch Date: May 16, 2008
Launch Window: 11:45 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. EDT

At Pad 17-B on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta II first
stage and nine solid rocket boosters have been erected. During
preparations to hoist the second stage atop the first stage, an
incident occurred which caused an adapter beam associated with the
lifting operation to fracture. As a result, the stacking operation
was immediately stopped. A team has been appointed to investigate the
incident. Once the team has concluded its investigation and is able
to determine there was no damage to the second stage, a new date for
stacking will be set, possibly as early as next week.

Meanwhile, at the Astrotech payload processing facility, the GLAST
spacecraft's solar array illumination test has been completed. The
Ku-band communications transmitter was installed as scheduled.
Closeouts of the spacecraft thermal blankets are under way. The
Ku-band communications antenna will be installed early next week. At
this time, preparations continue for delivery of GLAST to the launch
pad on May 2.

Previous status reports are available on the Web at:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/launchingrockets/status/2008