The third of three Boeing next-generation Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-P), successfully completed tests in 2006 designed to ensure that the spacecraft will operate in the extremely harsh environs of space. Boeing manufactured the satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Boeing conducted the thermal vacuum testing at its space simulation laboratory in El Segundo. The tests demonstrated that the satellite can operate in a simulated space environment by maintaining a continuous vacuum while liquid nitrogen cooled the chamber walls to minus 292 degrees Fahrenheit. Using heaters to simulate energy from the sun, testers then warmed the chamber to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition, critical cryogenic payload components were maintained near minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit as the spacecraft bus endured the temperature extremes.