Astronauts for the STS-130 mission: Commander George Zamka and Pilot Terry Virts. From the left Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick, Robert Behnken, Kathryn Hire and Stephen Robinson. Photo credit: NASA/JSC
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Note: Nancy Atkinson is at Kennedy Space Center covering the launch of STS-130
The official countdown clock is ticking for the STS-130 mission of space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. This is the last planned night launch for the shuttle program, with a scheduled liftoff time of 9:39:47 GMT (4:39:47 a.m. EST) on Sunday, February 7. “Everything thus far is going exceeding well… we’re right on schedule where we’re supposed to be and we’ll continue to work through the day on our preparations,” said NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding during this morning’s L-3 Countdown Status Briefing at KSC. The weather forecast might be the only issue, as forecasters are predicting a 70% chance of favorable weather, with high winds being the only concern for Sunday morning.
The seven-member crew will bring the Tranquility Node and a “cupola,” an observation deck for a full 360 degree view of Earth and the station. It will also serve as a robotic work station. With these new additions, the ISS will be 98% complete.
Tranquility, also known as Node 3 was built in Italy under direction of ESA, in coordination with NASA. “It is one of the most complex modules we’ve brought to the station,” said NASA Payload Manager Joe Delai. “Node 3 is over 3,600 kg (8,000 lbs) heavier than any other module,(with a total weight of 15,115 kg (33,325 lbs.)
At Thursday's press conference, Jeff Spaulding, Joe Delai, and Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters. Image: Nancy Atkinson
Delai said adding the modules will make the ISS larger than a five bedroom house. With all the storage space in Tranquility, the ISS will in total be able to house 100 telephone booth-sized racks and store the supportive equip to allow for a 6-person crew on the ISS.
Delai said they are taking advantage of the 7 X 4 meter (24 X 14 ft) volume of the Node and bringing 33 bags of stowage containing 485 kg (1,068 lbs) of provisions for the crew.
Space shuttle Endeavour as seen from the press viewing area at KSC. Image: Nancy Atkinson
Preparations and tests at Launch Pad 39A will continue with final flight crew stowage occurring after communications checks Saturday. The rotating service structure that protects the shuttle from weather prior to launch will be moved away from the vehicle at about 8 a.m. EST Saturday, and we hope to bring you pictures and an update at that time.
Those were the last words heard from the Challenger shuttle crew on January 28, 1986. Then came an explosion, and the famous “Y” plume of smoke from the solid rocket boosters flying away aimlessly to nowhere.
Mission Control: “Flight Controllers looking carefully at the situation. Obviously a major malfunction.”
Today we remember the Challenger crew, pictured above: (front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; (back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.
Looking for a way to remember the crew, or want more insight on the mission or accident? Read a UT article from Sept. 2008 of how Christa McAuliffe’s lost lesson plans have been given new life by a caring NASA engineer. Read a poem written by Stuart Atkinson about the Challenger accident. On Twitter, people are writing short remembrances of where they were when they heard the news. Below are more ways to remember the crew, and if you’d like, add a comment on your thoughts about the accident/or your recollections from that day.
Space correspondent Miles O’Brien writes in his True Slant blog about the Challenger disaster.
Endeavour on the launchpad for STS-130. Credit: NASA
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Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour for the STS-130 mission to the International Space Station has been been given the go-ahead, and launch is scheduled for Feb. 7 at 4:39 a.m. EST. Universe Today will be at the launch to provide on-site coverage of all the pre- and post-launch events, and we look forward to sharing the experience with you. This is likely the last night launch of the space shuttle, and it should be a beautiful sight.
STS-130 will bring the Tranquility node and a cupola, a 7-window observation portal for the ISS. Mission managers said at a press briefing today that the issue with problematic ammonia coolant hoses on the module has been resolved. The 7-member crew will carry out three spacewalks to install and outfit the Tranquility node.
Mission Control at Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA
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Listen up Space Tweeps: you can now Tweet your way to a personalized tour of Mission Control at Johnson Space Center during the upcoming STS-130 space shuttle mission. Well, personalized with 99 other Twitterers. NASA is hosting a unique Tweetup on Wednesday, Feb. 17 during Endeavour’s STS-130 mission to the International Space Station. Endeavour is targeted to launch on Sunday, Feb. 7. NASA will randomly select 100 individuals on Twitter from a pool of registrants who sign up on the Web. An additional 50 registrants will be added to a waitlist. Registration opens at noon EST on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and closes at noon EST Wednesday, Jan. 27.
“We’re excited to be hosting NASA’s sixth Tweetup,” said NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, who also is known as @astro_Mike. “This is the home of all of the astronauts and the historic Mission Control Center. It’s an outstanding location to provide our Twitter community with an insider’s view of human spaceflight. I’ll be on one of the two mission control teams working at that time to keep Endeavour and space station operating safely. Hopefully a few of my Twitter followers can participate in this exciting event.”
The event will provide NASA Twitter followers with the opportunity to take a tour of Johnson; view mission control and astronauts’ training facilities; and speak with flight directors, trainers, astronauts and managers. The Tweetup will include a “meet and greet” session to allow participants to mingle with fellow Tweeps and the staff behind the tweets on @NASA.
For more information about the Tweetup and to sign up, visit:
And if you don’t make it into the Tweetup, just follow the members of the Space Tweep Society on Twitter. They’ll tell you everything you need to know. And of course, so will I, so follow me on Twitter, too, and be sure to check Universe Today for lots of coverage of the STS-130 mission, as I’ll be live from Kennedy Space Center.
STS 130 Crew of Endeavour at Pad 39 A press briefing. Credit: NASA
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The crew of Endeavour said on Wednesday (Jan 20) that construction of new coolant hoses required to connect the new Tranquility module, or Node 3, to the space station is running ahead of schedule and they are optimistic for an on time launch of the STS 130 mission currently set for Feb 7.
Shortly after I attended the rollout to pad 39 A, the launch was thrown into doubt when a set of the 14 ft long external ammonia jumper hoses, which convey coolent critical for temperature control, ruptured during high pressure testing in early January. Tranquility cannot be fully activated until the ammonia lines are installed and functioning properly. Since then, tiger teams of engineers and technicians working at the hose subcontractor and at NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Ala have worked vigorously to qualify four new replacement hoses. They are also working to modify the original ammonia hoses which will be brought along as a back-up “Plan B” in case problems develop with the new replacement hoses.
Endeavour was rolled out to Pad 39 A during a frigid morning on Jan 6, 2010. Credit: Ken Kremer
During a launch pad press conference with reporters, lead Endeavour spacewalker Robert Behnken said, “We’ve been following these ammonia lines and the story associated with them for 13 months. I think folks paying close attention right now haven’t really heard the entire story. So we’ve been watching them closely for a long time now.”
“Last weekend our crew was at Marshall to see the first line as it was coming together and actually put it on a test rig to make sure it was going to do the job that it was intended. We’re expecting this Saturday to fly up and see all four lines in a pretty good configuration, pretty flight representative. Those lines, after that, will come down here to KSC for processing and installation into the orbiter.”
“Right now, the schedule appears for that set of lines to be a couple of days ahead,” Behnken added. “Our original plan was to do our fit check and our opportunity with them next weekend. But they’re ahead now and we’ll be able to do that this Saturday, which is great news.”
“The program is also pursuing a second set of lines that would allow us to launch at a slightly delayed launch date and still maintain a full capability for Node 3 [Tranquility]. So the program is pursuing two courses. Plan 1 is actually ahead of schedule which allows us to do a fit check a week early. That’s really good news as we move forward to flight”, he concluded.
Tranquility is the primary cargo being lofted in the payload bay of shuttle Endeavour and will be delivered to the International Space Station by the six person crew. During three spacewalks, astronaut teams will attach and activate Tranquility and the Cupola observation module which is joined to Tranquility at one end. The modules were loaded into Endeavour’s payload bay on Wednesday (Jan. 20). See my recent photos of Tranquility and Cupola from inside the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC in earlier reports here and here.
Today (Jan 21), the STS 130 astronauts took part in a mock countdown known as the TCDT, or Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test. While dressed in their orange spacesuits they climbed inside Endeavour at pad 39 A to rehearse all the actual launch procedures right up to the T minus 4 minute point , but not including the point of liftoff. They also practiced emergency evacuation safety procedures in case of a launch pad abort requiring them to rapidly depart the orbiter in a life or death situation and enter the slidewire escape baskets. The crew flies back to Houston on Friday for final pre flight training exercises.
The six person crew comprises of commander George “Zambo” Zamka, pilot Terry Virts, and mission specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken.
Senior shuttle managers will meet at KSC on Jan. 27 for an executive-level Flight Readiness Review. They will conduct an in-depth assessment to determine whether the shuttle, crew, payloads and the problematical ammonia lines are fit for launch. Thereafter the team will set an official launch date, which for now is still targeted for Feb 7.
Meanwhile it’s likewise been a busy time up in space for the 5 man crew of Expedition 22 currently in residence aboard the ISS as they conduct essential preparatory work over the next few days which must be completed before Endeavour launches and also to free up the docking port for Tranquility.
Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov conducts an EVA on Jan 14 to prepare the Poisk module for future dockings at the ISS. Credit: NASA
Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft moves from the aft port of the International Space Station's Zvezda service module to the Poisk module. Credit: NASA TVISS commander Jeffrey Williams and cosmonaut Max Suraev boarded their Soyuz TMA-16 spacecraft today in order to relocate it to a different docking port. First they undocked from the aft port of the Russian built Zvezda service command module and then maneuvered the capsule over to redock at the Poisk module, which is russia’s newest pressurized module and which is connected to Zvezdas zenith, space facing port. This marked the first spacecraft docking at Poisk.
Atlantis lands following the STS-129 mission in November, 2009. Credit: NASA
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After the space shuttle program ends, NASA hopes to sell the three slightly used remaining orbiters to educational institutions, science museums or other organizations who could publicly display them. Over a year ago, the space agency put out a request for those interested to submit proposals for owning a shuttle and said the cost would be about $42 million, which would include “safeing” an orbiter, preparing it for display and ferrying it to a U.S. destination airport. Today, however—perhaps in response to the current economic downturn — NASA has slashed the price to just $28.8 million.
The agency will now absorb the costs of safeing, will only charge for display preparation and ferrying costs.
In the original “Request for Information” back in December 2008, NASA said they were proposing the idea of selling the shuttles and wanted to “gauge the level and scope of interest of US organizations in acquiring the two other orbiters for public display once NASA’s programmatic requirements for the assets have been satisfied.”
But in this new update, NASA says they have revised the costs, and perhaps can deliver the shuttles six months earlier than previously estimated. Hmm. Sounds like a year-end clearance sale.
Only US institutions or citizens are eligible to submit proposals. Likely, only two of the shuttles will be sold, with the third expected to remain in government hands, possibly on display in Washington, DC. “NASA advised Congress that it would begin discussions with the Smithsonian Institution regarding accession of a flown orbiter to the national collection,” the agency said in the 2008 document.
Previously, NASA has donated historically important space hardware for free. Saturn rockets, lunar modules and other artifacts from the Apollo era are on display at various locations including the Kennedy Space Centre, in Florida, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, in Washington DC, and the US Space and Rocket Center, in Alabama.
If you could own a shuttle, which would you choose: Atlantis, Discovery or Endeavour?
NASA’s Space Shuttle, which will make its last flight sometime later this year, has been a boon to the local economy surrounding the Kennedy Space Center, which is located in Cocoa, Florida. The closest county, Brevard, is where many of the workers that help maintain and launch the shuttle reside, and because of the presence of the space center, many a bar, restaurant, and local business have thrived.
This is in part due to those that work in the space industry, both for NASA itself and many of its private contractors. There are also the thousands of tourists that flock to the region to view launches and take tours of the Kennedy Space Center. All this, however, will change once the shuttle program is finished, and with five-year gap (at least) until the Constellation program gets rolling, the “Space Coast” may take quite a hit economically.
The end of the shuttle program will potentially eliminate as many as 7,000 – 8,000 jobs, some of which will need to be filled once again when the Constellation program is in full swing. But during the gap, many workers are expected to vacate the area in search of jobs elsewhere. This will impact the local economy that relies on these residents, and as many as 14,000 workers in the area may be indirectly affected.
According to a state study, in the 2008 fiscal year NASA generated $4.1 billion dollars in revenue and benefits for the state. $2.1 billion of that was in household income, and over 40,000 jobs were created due to NASA-related activities.
The local unemployment rate has already risen to 11.9 percent at present, largely due to the nationwide economic problems. Housing and construction have taken a hit as well, and will continue to suffer as the area sees the space workers leave.
This is the second time in NASA’s history that they’ve had to wind down a human space program, the first being the Apollo missions which ended in 1972. After the end of Apollo, Brevard county saw a dramatic downturn in the economy, as 10,000 workers left the region to find jobs and unemployment rose to 15 percent.
Estimations of the economic aftereffects of the end of the shuttle program aren’t as grim as those figures for the post-Apollo period, but there will be repercussions nonetheless.
There are several other factors that complicate the renewal of these lost jobs once the Constellation program starts up in earnest. Since Constellation utilizes a non-reusable launch system, fewer workers will be needed for repair and retrofit between launches.
Frank DiBello of the state agency Space Florida told Florida Today, “There is no escaping the transition that will occur when we go from a very labor intensive, reusable space flight system to one that is expendable. Simply by its nature, it is going to take a smaller workforce.”
Almost one-third of the current NASA employees working on the shuttle are up for retirement, so these posts would have been vacated anyway, and approximately 2,000 civil servants for NASA will retain their jobs over the gap between programs.
Though the region surrounding the Kennedy Space Center will surely struggle these next few years, it’s possible that many aerospace workers will flock to the private space industry during the gap, and companies like Virgin Galactic will benefit.
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A small amount of cocaine was found in a restricted area of the processing hangar for shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center, NASA is launching an extensive investigation into the incident. KSC spokeswoman Lisa Malone said the substance was found by a United Space Alliance worker in a hallway outside two bathrooms and a janitor’s closet, in an area where workers have to swipe their identification cards to enter. Every one of the approximately 200 people who were in the Orbital Processing Facility 3 would be easily identified, NASA says, and added Discovery’s planned launch in March should not be impacted by this event.
“This is a rare and isolated incident, and I’m disappointed that it happened, but it should not detract from the outstanding work that is being done by a dedicated team on a daily basis,” Kennedy Space
Center Director Bob Cabana said. “We are conducting an investigation and working with center security and law enforcement officials to get to the bottom of it. We have multiple checks and balances in place to ensure the work on the orbiter is done correctly, and I have no concern for Discovery’s fitness for flight.”
While there are no indications anyone who was working on Discovery was under the influence of any illegal substances, drug testing of personnel who were in that area has been conducted. Drug-sniffing dogs were immediately called in to check out the employees, but found nothing.
NASA said extensive efforts are being made to ensure flight hardware and equipment that will be used by astronauts on Discovery’s upcoming STS-131 mission are completely safe.
“We have processes that will ensure the integrity of the shuttle,” Cabana said. “There is no reason whatsoever to believe this incident will have any impact on Discovery’s upcoming launch.”
Meticulous records are kept on all work that is performed. Shuttle safety and quality assurance teams have the capability to trace individuals’ work in detail. In addition, most work tasks are reviewed and approved by one, and sometimes two, quality inspectors and specialists who verify proper work was done on critical flight hardware.
Caption: Tranquility and Cupola lowered into canister for transport to Launch Pad 39 A. Credit: NASA
NASA managers decided on Tuesday (Jan. 12) to press forward towards an on time liftoff target date of Feb 7 for Space Shuttle Endeavour as engineers developed a workaround solution to the ammonia coolant hose leak issue which has threatened to delay the launch or seriously alter the mission goals (read my earlier post). The ammonia jumper hoses are critical to the success of the STS 130 mission because they will supply cooling capacity to the new Tranquility module by circulating ammonia and transport the heat generated by the on board systems. Space walking astronauts must connect the hoses from Tranquility to the space station’s cooling system during the STS 130 flight in order to fully activate Tranquility for use by the orbiting outposts crew.
The primary goal of STS 130 is to deliver, attach and activate the Italian built Tranquility pressurized module with will provide significant additional living and work space for the resident ISS crews. Joined to one end of Tranquility is the Cupola observation module. Three EVA’s are planned to accomplish all the essential work to wholly attach and activate Tranquility and also relocate Cupola to an earth facing port on Tranquility.
Mike Suffredini, NASA’s space station manager, decided to proceed toward a Feb 7 launch and that the mission will retain full mission content. Thus there will be no reduction in tasks and NASA is no longer pursuing a “partial” activation of Tranquility. The crew is therefore expected to accomplish 100% of their goals in activating Tranquility and Cupola.
One of the four 14 ft long flight hoses due to be installed by the astronauts failed during the final pre-flight testing on Jan 7 at a subcontractors facility in California. The high pressure hose ruptured during pressure testing at just about half the specified design pressure, at around 1500 psi vs. the specification of approximately 3000 psi.
After a thorough analysis and evaluation, NASA engineering teams decided to select an alternative hose design which involves welding together shorter 7 ft hoses that are already certified and tested for use aboard the station as the primary jumper, according to Pete Hasbrook, NASA’s Expedition 22 lead increment manager. “They have been working on a beefed up version of the hoses, adding a second braid around the hoses, beefing up the weld and the connector that the metal braid is connected to,” Hasbrook explained at a media briefing on Monday (Jan 11). “The new hoses have now been successfully tested to over 3000 psi”.
The new hoses are now under construction and are set to be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center just about one week before the Feb. 7 target launch date. Any further problems could delay the mission as the number of contingency days available for flow processing is declining. There is no longer any consideration of switching this flight with the next mission, STS 131, planned to blast off on March 18.
Tranquility and Cupola were lifted by crane from their workstand (see photos) inside the Space Station Processing facility (SSPF) today (Jan 12) and gently packed inside the nearby payload transportation canister. The current plan is to move them to the pad this Saturday, according to NASA spokesman Allard Beutel. Continuing cold weather at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has caused a slight delay in pre-launch activities by technicians working to load propellants aboard Endeavour at Launch Pad 39 A. Read my earlier report on rollout of Endeavour to Pad 39 A here. Caption: Endeavour was rolled out to Pad 39 A on Jan 6, 2010. Credit: Ken Kremer
This entire hose problem stems from NASA’s decision to change the attach location of Tranquility to the port side (left) of the Unity node, designated as Node 1 and located at the center of the station. To accommodate this change in location custom built hoses were required. “The hoses needed to be longer than originally designed”, Beutel explained to me. “Hoses from the group that were set to fly on STS-130 failed so that’s why we’re looking at all the hoses and making modifications to our plans”.
NASA has also decided on a back up “Plan B”, which is to accelerate development of a redesigned set of “functionally equivalent hoses”, at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, based on the design that failed and bring them up along to orbit for use in the event a problem arises with the new primary design.
Meanwhile, the six person crew of Endeavour continues to train at the Johnson Space Center. They still plan to fly to the Cape for several days of countdown dress rehearsal and safety training on Jan 19.
Caption: Overhead view of Tranquility & Cupola modules inside the Space Station Processing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on Jan 8, 2010. Tranquility will be attached to ISS by STS 130 astronaut crew. Credit: Ken Kremer
(Editor’s Note: Ken Kremer is in Florida for Universe Today covering the pre-launch activities of Endeavour.)
The launch of Shuttle Endeavour on the STS 130 flight now faces a potential delay due to technical problems with the external ammonia connecting lines which are designed to provide critical cooling capability to the new Tranquility module. Tranquility is a pressurized module being brought aloft as payload in the cargo bay of Endeavour on the STS 130 mission. Launch of Endeavour is currently set for 4:39 AM on Feb. 7.
NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told me Friday afternoon Jan 8 that, “As space station and space shuttle teams prepared for February’s launch of Endeavour, a high-pressure ammonia jumper hose assembly failed during a prelaunch test Thursday. Four such hoses, which will be used to connect the new Tranquility module to the station’s cooling system, are to be installed and activated by spacewalkers during the STS-130 mission.â€
Delivery and attachment of Tranquility to the International Space Station (ISS) is the primary goal of STS 130. Its like adding a new room to your house. Tranquility will provide extra living and work space for the astronaut residents aboard the ISS.
NASA engineering teams are now working diligently to try and rectify the hose problems through additional testing, developing alternative work arounds and data evaluation. As they continue searching for solutions throughout the weekend and beyond, its not clear at this point if they can maintain the targeted Feb 7 launch date or if the technical glitch will force a delay.
NASA is considering many options on how to proceed and an on time lift off is still a possibility if the hoses can be cleared for flight as is. Some alternatives include delaying the launch for days if the hoses can be somehow modified quickly and easily, constructing new custom hoses or basically launching with the hose problems as is and living with the problem. This would require significantly revamping all the procedures for how the STS 130 crew would attach and activate Tranquility at the ISS. In this case the mission could potentially be shortened by deleting one or more of the planned three spacewalks. New high pressure ammonia hoses could then be built, delivered and installed on a future shuttle flight.
Image caption: NASA technician proudly enjoys his work preparing Tranquility for launch to the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer
A more drastic solution would be to switch the order of the remaining five shuttle flights and launch the STS 131 mission, currently slated for Mar. 18, ahead of STS 130. This alternative however would wreak havoc on this years schedule of the final flights before the shuttle is retired and appears less likely as an option, at least as of today. In order to switch the missions, Endeavour would necessarily have to be rolled back off Pad 39 A and be returned to wait inside the VAB since NASA now has only one functioning shuttle launch pad. The second pad, 39 B, was transferred to the Constellation program last May for launch of the Ares 1 X rocket. To accommodate the new Ares booster, Pad 39 B is being dismantled and is no longer capable of launching space shuttles.
Beutel said to me that, “NASA managers are assessing the possible options to address this. We should have a better idea where things are heading early next weekâ€.
NASA held a media briefing on Tranquility on Friday which I attended was able to observe Tranquility first hand inside the Space Station Processing Facility (see photos). The current plan is to place Tranquility inside the payload transport canister located nearby inside the facility and then transport it to the launch pad on Jan 15.
