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The results of the Gravity Probe B relativity science mission published in Everitt et al (2011 Phys. Rev. Lett.106 221101) required a rather sophisticated analysis of experimental data due to several unexpected complications discovered on-orbit. We give a detailed description of the Gravity Probe B data reduction. In the first paper (Silbergleit et al Class. Quantum Grav.22 224018) we derived the measurement models, i.e., mathematical expressions for all the signals to analyze. In the third paper (Conklin et al Class. Quantum Grav.22 224020) we explain the estimation algorithms and their program implementation, and discuss the experiment results obtained through data reduction. This paper deals with the science data preparation for the main analysis yielding the relativistic drift estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gravity Probe B (GP-B) was a cryogenic, space-based experiment testing the geodetic and frame-dragging predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity (GR) by means of gyroscopes in Earth orbit. This first of three data analysis papers reviews the GR predictions and details the models that provide the framework for the relativity analysis. In the second paper we describe the flight data and their preprocessing. The third paper covers the algorithms and software tools that fit the preprocessed flight data to the models to give the experimental results published in Everitt et al (2011 Phys. Rev. Lett.106 221101–4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]