page_title: Boeing 601
hierarchical_section_title: Boeing 601
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside the Astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida, NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, TDRS-M, is undergoing final checkouts prior to encapsulation in its payload fairing. TDRS-M is the latest spacecraft destined for the agency's constellation of communications satellites that allows nearly continuous contact with orbiting spacecraft ranging from the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope to the array of scientific observatories. Liftoff atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled to take place from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 9:02 a.m. EDT Aug. 3, 2017.
context_page_description: The Boeing 601 is a communications satellite bus designed in 1985 and introduced in 1987 by Hughes Space and Communications Company. It was designed for such applications as direct television broadcasting to small receiving antennas, very small aperture terminals for private business networks and mobile communications. The series was extremely popular in the 1990s, with more than 84 purchased by customers around the world.
  The more advanced 601HP derivative was introduced in 1995. Hughes, and the 601 platforms, were acquired by Boeing in 2000.
  The last commercial 601 satellite was ordered in 2001 and launched in 2004. The NASA Space Communications and Navigation Program Office in December 2007 selected the BSS-601HP for its third generation TDRS spacecraft, adding the two 15-foot diameter steerable antennas. The TDRS-M satellite, launched on August 18, 2017, became the last 601 satellite to reach orbit.
context_section_description: The Boeing 601 (sometimes referred to as the BSS-601, and previously as the HS-601) is a communications satellite bus designed in 1985 and introduced in 1987 by Hughes Space and Communications Company. It was designed for such applications as direct television broadcasting to small receiving antennas, very small aperture terminals for private business networks and mobile communications.  The series was extremely popular in the 1990s, with more than 84 purchased by customers around the world. 
  The more advanced 601HP derivative (for "high power") was introduced in 1995. Hughes, and the 601 platforms, were acquired by Boeing in 2000.
  The last commercial 601 satellite was ordered in 2001 and launched in 2004.  The NASA Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) Program Office in December 2007 selected the BSS-601HP for its third generation TDRS spacecraft, adding the two 15-foot (4.5m) diameter steerable antennas.  The TDRS-M satellite, launched on August 18, 2017, became the last 601 satellite to reach orbit.
caption: TDRS-M, the last satellite based on the Boeing-601
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