TDRS-M data relay satellite purchased for NASA network

NASA has ordered up an additional next-generation communications spacecraft, valued at $289 million, for its orbiting network of Tracking and Data Relay Satellites. The TDRS-M bird will be built by The Boeing Company in El Segundo, California. The aerospace giant is working to produce the TDRS-K satellite for launch late next year and TDRS-L in 2013 atop Atlas 5 boosters from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Boeing also manufacturing the fleet's previous generation -- TDRS-H, -I and -J -- that were carried to orbit between 2000 and 2002 atop Atlas 2 rockets from the Cape Canaveral. NASA touts this latest deal as allowing Boeing Satellite Systems to retain at least 300 jobs on the TDRS...