On July 17th, Boeing [NYSE: BA] transferred Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-O to NASA, completing the company's third on-orbit satellite handover this year.

GOES-O, which has been renamed GOES-14, will undergo approximately five months of on-orbit testing before it is officially accepted for service by NOAA. Boeing's first two satellite deliveries of 2009 were the second Wideband Global SATCOM satellite for the U.S. Air Force and the Indostar II/Protostar II satellite for a commercial satellite operator. Both handovers occurred on June 15. The active GOES constellation currently consists of GOES-11, GOES-12 and GOES-13 (known as GOES-N before it reached orbit). Once accepted, GOES-14 will join the constellation in a storage orbital position of 105 degrees West. Both GOES-13 and GOES-14 will operate as backup satellites to GOES-11 and GOES-12 and become the primary operational satellites over the next two years.