CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- News conferences, events and operating hours for the news center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida are set for the launch of Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-K, or TDRS-K, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket Jan. 29. The 40-minute launch window extends from 8:52 to 9:32 p.m. EST. Liftoff will occur from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Launch commentary coverage, as well as prelaunch media briefings, will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency's website.

TDRS-K is the first of three next-generation satellites designed to ensure vital operational continuity for NASA. Each of the new satellites has a higher performance solar panel design for more spacecraft power to meet the growing S-band communications requirements. The TDRS system provides critical support from several locations in geostationary orbit for an array of science and human exploration missions orbiting Earth. These include the Hubble Space Telescope and the International Space Station.

Prelaunch News Conference

A prelaunch news conference on NASA TV will be held at NASA Kennedy Space Center's Press Site at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28.

Briefing participants are:

-- Badri Younes, deputy associate administrator, Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) NASA Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, Washington

-- Tim Dunn, NASA launch director Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

-- Vernon Thorp, program manager, NASA Missions United Launch Alliance, Denver, Colo.

-- Jeffrey Gramling, NASA TDRS-K project manager Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

More here:

NASA Sets TDRS-K/Atlas V Launch Events Coverage