Boeing

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., April 29, 2009 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] has successfully completed the system-level Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system (TDRS) K-L program, an important design milestone as the program moves toward integration of the TDRS K satellite for NASA. The comprehensive five-day review was held in El Segundo in March and attended by NASA project, program and Headquarters officials.

The PDR, which followed the successful delta integrated baseline review completed earlier this year, is the result of a series of monthly reviews and ongoing partnership between Boeing and NASA to execute to plan. It included presentations on systems engineering, program management, safety and mission assurance, the spacecraft, the launch vehicle, the ground segment and mission operations.

"Our customer was very pleased with the results of the PDR and recognized Boeing's commitment to the success of the TDRS program," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "Boeing now proceeds into implementation of the detailed design for TDRS K with NASA's full confidence that our team is on good footing and properly baselined to meet the technical requirements and schedule."

Boeing is on track to complete the program's Critical Design Review in early 2010, after which spacecraft integration can begin.

Under a contract awarded in December 2007, Boeing is developing the next-generation K-L series of TDRS satellites to provide NASA with crucial communications capability between ground-based control and data-processing facilities and Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including the space shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope, the International Space Station and dozens of unmanned scientific satellites in low Earth orbit. The TDRS K-L series integrates a modern design based on flight-proven performance. The Boeing-built 601HP spacecraft also employs the patented, innovative spring-back antenna design that was flown on TDRS H, I and J. The steerable, single-access antennas can simultaneously send and receive high data rate transmissions at S-band and either Ku- or Ka-band frequencies, supporting dual independent two-way communication and making the satellite less susceptible to radio interference.