The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched a new communication satellite Wednesday to remain in contact with its space-station astronauts and relay more images from the orbiting Hubble telescope. An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket launched Wednesday night from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the U.S. space agency's latest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). It was the 11th TDRS satellite to be launched by NASA, which uses the orbiting network to communicate with astronauts living on the International Space Station (ISS). The first TDRS satellite was launched in 1983. It recently was retired along with the fourth satellite. The second satellite was lost in the explosion of space shuttle Challenger in 1986. The newest third-generation TDRS, which costs between $350 million and $400 million, will take two weeks to reach its intended 35,900-kilometer-high orbit. Testing will last a few months. Another TDRS satellite is scheduled to be launched next year. NASA wants at least seven TDRS satellites working in orbit. The one launched Wednesday makes eight currently in orbit.
