This NASA satellite is ready to go to space after having its broken antenna replaced

The Verge ------ Tomorrow morning, a NASA communications satellite is scheduled to launch to space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on top of an Atlas V rocket made by the United Launch Alliance. The launch was slated for earlier this month, but was delayed after some equipment on the probe was broken during launch preparations. But now, the satellite, called TDRS-M, is ready to head to orbit, where it will join a fleet of other satellites crucial to NASA’s operations in space. That fleet is known as NASA’s Space Network — a constellation of satellites that allows the space agency to better communicate with its vehicles in lower Earth orbit. That includes NASA’s many Earth-observing satellites, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station. Before the network, NASA used to communicate with its orbiting vehicles using only ground-based radio stations — but it came with some time constraints. Fifty years ago, for instance, astronauts could communicate with the ground for only 15 percent of each orbit, according to NASA. To learn more click on the picture below to read the article.