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this is really a pretty satellite so

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this is how the world saw the deployment

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of the tdrs or tracking and data relay

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satellite during the most recent mission

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of discovery

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there you see it very smooth separation

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we heard

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nothing and felt nothing in the cabin

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when that separated what most people

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didn't realize was that the bottom half

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of this satellite assembly the lighter

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colored area is a space transfer vehicle

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called the inertial upper stage or ius

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now nasa is gearing up to use this ius

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to help launch another tdrs satellite

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during the next shuttle flight and

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they're aiming for a carbon copy of that

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previous mission i would like to see it

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just like that again that was just

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letter perfect parker counts oversees

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the upper stage projects office at the

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marshall space flight center

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he explains that the ius was developed

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by the air force for use aboard the

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shuttle and expendable launch vehicles

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marshall center officials purchased the

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transfer vehicle from the air force for

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use aboard nasa missions it bridges an

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important orbital gap between the

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altitude of the shuttle and what you

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might call the parking orbit for

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satellites that's nearly 150 times

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higher roughly we're looking at an orbit

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of

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160 miles where we start with the

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shuttle

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then we take it uh from there with a

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two-stage inertial upper stage to 22 300

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miles that's what we call the

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geostationary orbit where that orbit is

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in sync with the rotation of the earth

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that's important because it means that

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satellite dishes on the earth can remain

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pointed in one direction

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but the ius is powerful enough to do

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much more than just boost satellites

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the shuttle mission after next for

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example will use an ius to send the

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unmanned magellan space probe on its

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journey to map the surface of venus

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at least two other planetary probes will

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also be propelled by ius vehicles

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later this year galileo is slated to

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begin a mission to explore jupiter

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ulysses is scheduled to begin a voyage

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to the sun about a year later

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as nasa continues to probe the frontiers

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of space the inertial upper stage

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remains a powerful way to extend our

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reach

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at the marshall space flight center this

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roughly we're looking at um an orbit of

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uh 160 miles where we start with the

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shuttle

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then we take it uh from there with a

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two-stage uh inertial upper stage to 22

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300 miles that's what we call the

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geostationary orbit where that orbit is

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in sync with the rotation of the earth

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and we were able to do that with a very

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great

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this is really a pretty satellite so

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really some gorgeous views out the

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window

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through the deployment

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and i hope we captured a lot of that on

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film

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there you see it uh very smooth

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separation

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we heard

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nothing and felt nothing in the cabin