"To: Japan, Love: GSFC"
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Notes written on the side of GPM's shipping container.
C5 Aircraft in Alaska for Refueling
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GPM's C-5 transport aircraft on the ground at Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska.
GPM's Roller Bed Truck Loaded on the Plane
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The roller bed truck loaded on the plane. Secured on top are the FlipRight (yellow) for manipulating the spacecraft once it’s in the cleanroom in Japan and the I-beam sling (white) that facilitates the heavy lifting of the container.
Loading GPM into the C5 Aircraft
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Halfway through the loading process at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, the C-5 looks like it swallows the GPM shipping container.
Tropical Cyclone Lehar Moving Toward India
Tropical cyclone LEHAR, located in the Bay Of Bengal, continues to gain intensity while heading toward the same area of India where a much weaker tropical cyclone HELEN recently came ashore. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) predicts that LEHAR's sustained wind speeds will reach 95 kts (~109 mph) on November 27, 2013 and then decrease to about 85 kts (~98 mph) before hitting India's east-central coast. The TRMM satellite flew above tropical cyclone LEHAR on November 26, 2013 at 0307 UTC and captured data used in the image above. Rainfall derived from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and