Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-13 (TDRS-13), the last of the third generation TDRS, launched onboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on August 18, 2017. Following its August launch and a five-month period of in-orbit testing, the third-generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS), referred to as TDRS-M until this important milestone, was renamed TDRS-13, becoming the tenth operational satellite in the geosynchronous, space-based fleet.
The TDRS spacecraft comprise the space-based portion of the Space Network, relaying signals from low-Earth-orbiting missions with nearly 100 percent coverage.
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