Category: Space Shuttle

It’s a rare event anyway, but this is the last time ever. Two shuttles are now sitting on NASA’s two launchpads at Kennedy Space Center. Space shuttle Endeavour completed a 4.2-mile journey to Launch Pad 39B Friday morning, Sept. 19, at 6:59 a.m. EDT, and this is the first time a shuttle has stood by as a rescue vehicle. Atlantis, over at Pad 39A is preparing for its mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, currently scheduled for Oct. 10 (although there might be an problem with that date –see below). Since Atlantis won’t be going to the International Space Station which would be a “safe haven” in the event of an emergency, Endeavour will stand by in the unlikely event a rescue mission is necessary. After Endeavour is cleared from its duty as a rescue vehicle, it will move to Launch Pad 39A for the upcoming STS-126 mission to the International Space Station. That flight is targeted for launch Nov. 12. This Saturday, there will be a good photo op as the Rotating Service Structures for Endeavour will be rolled back, making both the shuttles more visible. Robert Pearlman at CollectSPACE.com has a full list of the 17 times in history two shuttles sat on the launchpads, and some great pictures, too.

A small glitch occurred this week in preparing for the Hubble servicing mission. Trouble with a cleaning system connected to a canister housing fresh batteries and a new camera bound for the Hubble Space Telescope somehow blew insulation into protective bagging around the cargo carrier.. Work to inspect and clean the canister will delay its delivery to the shuttle Atlantis at launch pad 39A by at least 24 hours. While a corresponding launch delay is possible, NASA is sticking with its current Oct. 10 launch target until managers get a better sense of how much lost time can be made up.

And for those you that have questions as to why Endeavor will be moved to 39A, its because that pad is being prepared for being able to launch the Ares rockets for the upcoming Constellation program. It will work in a pinch to launch the shuttle, but NASA officials would much rather launch it from 39A to avoid any problems. And even if the shuttle program is extended in order to shorten the gap between the time the shuttle flights end and Constellation begins, shuttles will probably not launch from 39B again.

If you missed seeing Endeavour’s crawl out to the pade, video file of rollout will be available on NASA Television.

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Thursday afternoon space shuttle Atlantis rolled out to Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, making it’s slow 5.1 km (3.2 mile) journey along the crawlerway from the Vehicle Assembly Building. NASA mission managers cleared the shuttle’s move after a weather briefing on the status of Tropical Storm Hanna which determined the storm would remain far enough off shore to not cause any problems for the shuttle exposed out on the pad. Atlantis’ seven-member crew are set for an equipment test Friday at Kennedy in preparation for their mission to service NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The telescope has already rewritten the books on astronomy and will remain operational for at least another five years following the upgrades. Atlantis is targeted to launch Oct. 8 on mission STS-125. However, another hurricane, Ike, lurks out in the waters of the Atlantic, and could cause problems. But NASA is betting it won’t turn north and head for Florida.

Hubble Servicing Mission No. 4 is the only flight left on NASA’s shuttle manifest that is not headed to the International Space Station. Because Hubble is in a different orbit, Atlantis’ crew cannot seek “safe haven” on the ISS in case of any problems that might prevent a safe re-entry.

Therefore, a second shuttle, Endeavour, will head out to Launch Pad 39 B on Sept. 19, and be ready and on alert for a rescue mission. But if no rescue flight is needed, Endeavour will be moved to pad 39A and prepared for launch on the next ISS assembly mission around Nov. 10.

News Source: NASA

Work will begin on Friday to repair damaged sections of Kennedy Space Center’s launch pad 39A that was damaged during the last space shuttle launch on May 31. On Thursday, (June 26) NASA managers approved a plan that would complete the repairs by the third week of August. Therefore the mission schedule shouldn’t be impacted. The next space shuttle flight, the high-profile final mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope is scheduled to launch on October 8, and if all goes well with the repairs, space shuttle Atlantis would crawl its way out to the pad on August 29. “We really like the plan,” said shuttle Program Manager John Shannon. “We expect to start moving out on it right away.”

During shuttle Discovery’s launch in May more than 3,500 fire-resistant bricks lining the northeast wall of the “flame trench” at pad 39A were blasted away. Radar tracking showed some of the bricks shot out of the trench at about 1,000 feet per second, or about 680 mph. But NASA officials said the incident did not pose a threat to the space shuttle. Computer simulations run by engineers showed that none of the bricks flew up near the pad surface, and therefore couldn’t have hit the shuttle.

“It’s not a flight [safety] issue at all,” said Rita Willcoxon, space shuttle processing manager, during a teleconference on Thursday.

The work is estimated to cost less than $2.7 million.
A detailed inspection found that many of the anchor plates used to secure the interlocking fire bricks to the 3-foot-thick concrete back wall were heavily eroded due to decades of exposure to severe pressures and acidic rocket exhaust. Additionally, epoxy used to help secure the bricks to the wall was degraded or not consistently applied when the pad was built in the mid 1960s. As a result, the outer brick wall was not tightly locked to the underlying concrete wall it was designed to protect.

To fix the trench, a two different sections of the trench wall will be stripped of bricks.. A steel mesh-like structure will be erected over the exposed backwall and then covered in sprayed-on Fondu Fyre, a material used to protect the massive flame deflector directly under the shuttle’s boosters and main engines.

Working two 10-hour shifts per day, the repair team expects to have the brick removed by July 19. After that, the mesh will be erected and the Fondue Fyre applied.
Officials said the repaired flame trench will be inspected after every launch, but is expected to hold up through the end of shuttle operations in 2010.

The other shuttle pad, 39B may have similar deficiencies in its flame trench. But no major repairs are scheduled for that pad, as all 10 remaining shuttle flights are scheduled to use pad 39A. NASA will have a shuttle ready at 39B for a rescue mission should Atlantis suffer major damage during the Hubble flight, since the shuttle couldn’t reach the International Space Station as a safe haven, which is in a different orbit than Hubble.

News Sources: CBS News Space Place, Space.com

About 5,300 special heat-resistant bricks broke off a flame trench wall of launchpad 39 A at Kennedy Space Center during the space shuttle launch on May 31, hurling some bricks more than 1,800 feet. Engineers assessing the damage said on Monday they are confident the flame trench can be repaired in time for NASA’s next mission, the Oct. 8 launch of shuttle Atlantis on a flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA allowed journalists to survey the damage to the pad, as well as a heavily damaged security fence around the pad perimeter, with bricks scattered across a wide area around the pad.

The flame trench diverts exhaust to flow out both sides of the launchpad. The missing bricks exposed an irregular area of the concrete wall measuring roughly 20 feet by 75 feet. New bricks cannot be manufactured in time to support the Hubble mission, but engineers believe the trench can be repaired by stripping away additional bricks around the damage area, erecting a steel mesh framework and then spraying on a thick coating of a heat resistant covering.

NASA still does not know exactly what caused the flame trench to come apart and why it broke now, after decades of use. The launch pads were built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1960s for the Saturn rockets that sent the Apollo missions to the moon.

The space agency is inspecting its other launch pad, 39 B, to see whether it, too, has flaws. Both launchpads will be needed for the Hubble mission, as a second shuttle needs to be ready to go, as post-Columbia flight guidelines require a backup shuttle to serve as a recue ship for any mission not going to the International Space Station, where the crew could take refuge if any damage occurred that would prohibit the shuttle from landing.

Previously, NASA said, the worst damage to a launch pad was the loss of 800 bricks from the flame trench at Pad B during Challenger’s doomed liftoff in 1986.

News Sources: AP, CBS News Space Place

Update: After a quick but thorough analysis of photos and video of the object and the “protuberance” on the shuttle tail fin, NASA officials say neither should pose any problem for the shuttle landing on Saturday. The object floating away was determined to be one of three thermal clips that are inside the rudder speed brake on the tail fin. They are normally fixed to the back end of the rudder, and NASA astronaut Terry Virts said it is common for these clips to be missing following a mission. Image analysts compared previous images of the clips to telephoto images taken by the crew today to determine it was one of the clips. The “protuberance” on the tail fin is considered to be “nominal” or normal, and was just a separation in the tail’s thermal cover that was enhanced by the lighting from the sun at that time, and does not pose a problem.
This morning around 6:30 am EDT, the crew of STS-124 activated the shuttle’s auxiliary power units to test the shuttle’s re-entry systems for Saturday’s scheduled landing. Everything checked out fine, but shortly afterward the crew reported seeing an object floating away from the shuttle. The crew was able to capture video of the object as it tumbled away. “We observed an object depart aft of the starboard wing,” Commander Mark Kelly said. “Looked like, and obviously it’s hard to tell dimensions and size looking out the aft windows, but it looked like it might have been a foot to a foot and a half in width. And we’ve got a pretty reasonable image of it.”

Additionally, the crew also noticed a protuberance on the shuttle’s tail fin, thought to be a small piece of thermal insulation. NASA TV reported that NASA officials are not currently overly concerned about the protuberance, but additional images are being taken by the crew and downloaded for review by experts in Houston.

NASA TV commentator Rob Navias it is not uncommon for objects to become dislodged from the payload bay or for ice from the engine bell to become dislodged after the shuttle has unusual movements, such as when auxiliary power units are activated or tested. However, the object is large enough that further review of the incident is warranted. There is no concern about the object re-contacting the shuttle, but it is being tracked from the ground.

NASA is also studying video plus digital stills of the area on the shuttle’s tail fin, at the intersection of the lower and top sections of the rudder that meet to form the speed brake, used during landing. All the aero surfaces of the rudder and speed brake were tested this morning, with five movements in either direction, and no unusual data was detected. NASA reports that all the landing systems appear to be in good shape to support entry and landing.

The area in question on the tail fin is covered with a reusable thermal protection system and it does have a thermal barrier seal. That seems to be where the slight “bump” as the crew called it, or protuberance is.

This morning Kelly, Pilot Ken Ham and flight engineer Ron Garan are honing in on their piloting skills by conducting a computer simulation of landing the shuttle.

There will be media interviews with the shuttle crew at about 11:50 this morning, where details of the object and protuberance might be discussed. Look for updates here.

News Sources: NASA TV, Spaceflightnow.com

The damage to Launchpad 39 A is apparently worse than first thought. According to a report from WESH TV in Orlando, not only were bricks blasted from launchpad walls during the launch of Discovery on May 31, 2008, but damage also extended hundreds of square feet under the pad. NASA Officials said engineers inspected the walls and found more areas ready to fail, making the pad dangerous to use. Repairs will begin as soon as possible, as there are only two launchpads for the shuttle. Complicating matters is that both pads, 39 A and 39 B must be available for the next space shuttle mission, a flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, and preliminary work has begun to switch 39 B from a shuttle launch pad to the site where the first Ares rockets will be tested next year for the new Constellation program.

STS-125’s mission to Hubble, scheduled for October 2008, will require a shuttle ready on each launchpad, as post-Columbia flight guidelines require a backup shuttle to serve as a recue ship for any mission not going to the International Space Station, where the crew could take refuge if any damage occurred that would prohibit the shuttle from landing.

So, just closing down the damaged Pad 39A is not an option, said shuttle program manager Leroy Cain. “We need both launch pads, so that’s not a negotiable term at this point.”

But switching to pad 39B as the primary launch pad would also present issues, as this site is currently being readied for launches for the Constellation program.

Last week’s launch tore huge gouges into the pad’s walls. Bricks were blasted and thrown on a roadway a quarter of a mile away, and into the waterway behind the pad. NASA is concerned about bricks being thrust up and damaging the space shuttle during future launches.

“We have lots of things that are susceptible to breaking away, or peeling away and hitting the launch vehicle,”said Leroy Cain. “Will there be impacts to the shuttle program, potentially the station, and no doubt the Constellation program? I’m sure there would be.”

Both launchpads were initially built to launch the Saturn rockets for the Apollo program, back in the 1960’s.

But as it stands now, Launchpad 39 A can’t be used again until NASA determines how and why the damage occurred, and how to prevent it from happening again.

Sources: WESH TV, NASA TV