Discovery on the launchpad in March, 2010 for the STS-131 mission. Credit: Nancy Atkinson
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If you are tentatively planning to attend one of the final shuttle launches, the uncertainty on launch dates just got a bit more certain; plus — an added benefit — we won’t see the end of the shuttle program until 2011.
NASA announced new target dates for the final two (and maybe three) shuttle missions. STS-133 is now aiming for November 1, 2010 at approximately 4:33 p.m. EDT for the final flight of shuttle Discovery, and for STS-134, February 26, 2011 at around 4:19 p.m. EST for shuttle Endeavour’s last launch. The potential bonus mission STS-135, would launch sometime in August 2011, if approved by Congress and NASA. The latest word on that was that NASA officials hope the decision would be made sometime this month.
The target dates were changed because the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument, heading for installation on the International Space Station won’t be ready by the time of the previously planned Sept. 16 launch for STS-133. With that launch moving to November, STS-134 cannot fly as planned, so the next available launch window — taking into account sun angles and other planned launches –is in February 2011.
These dates were rumored last week, but this is now the official word. However, of course, all target launch dates are subject to change.
The last external tanks for the STS-134 mission was recently completed at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. There will be a final farewell ceremony at 9 a.m. CDT on Thursday, July 8, which will be shown on NASA TV. The event will commemorate 37 years of successful tank deliveries and the final external tank’s rollout for the last space shuttle flight. Coverage begins at 8:45 a.m.
The tank, designated ET-138, will travel on a wheeled transporter one mile to the Michoud barge dock. It will be accompanied by the Storyville Stompers, a traditional area brass band, and hundreds of handkerchief-waving employees in typical New Orleans fashion and spirit.
The tank will travel on a 900-mile sea journey to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it will support shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 launch. No word yet on how the oil spill may affect the journey.
Another tank that was damaged in Hurricane Katrina is being refurbished for the Launch-On-Need (LON) rescue mission STS-335, which if not needed and if it gets approval to fly as the actual final shuttle mission, (Atlantis) would change to STS-135.
Ken Kremer (who has written for Universe Today) has an article on SpaceRef about his tour of the Michoud Facility, which includes some great images.
Endeavour on the launchpad in February 2010. Image: Nancy Atkinson
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The final scheduled space shuttle flight of Endeavour that has been targeted for late November 2010 is now likely to move to January or even February of 2011 because the primary payload, the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, won’t be delivered to KSC in time to support the earlier date. Additionally, the penultimate scheduled mission, STS-133 Discovery, currently slated for September 16, could be delayed until October. As we reported yesterday, the first hint of Endeavour’s delay came from the announcement of a new opportunity for students to send experiments to space on Endeavour, and now Florida Today reports Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said it could even be February until the AMS is ready to go.
The White House and Congress are considering adding a third and final shuttle mission that could be flown next June. Each additional month of shuttle operations costs $100 million to $200 million. While the funding for shuttle missions technically only goes until the end of 2010, mission managers have said there is currently enough money in the shuttle budget for about two months of operations in 2011.
After that and possibly one more mission next summer, if funding is approved, Cabana, speaking at a National Space Club Florida Committee meeting, hopes to see KSC transition be able to support commercial space ventures and be less reliant on a single NASA program like Apollo, the shuttle or even Constellation.
“What we don’t want to be in the future is tied to any one large program,” Cabana said.
The delay for the AMS involves switching out to magnets that will last longer in space, since operations of the ISS have been extended to 2020. Liquid helium would have been used cool the superconducting magnet’s temperature to near absolute zero. But tests showed the helium would dissipate withing 2-3 years, leaving the seven-ton experiment useless.
If NASA offered you a ride on one of the final two scheduled space shuttle missions, you’d go, right? I know I would, so that’s why I immediately signed up for NASA’s newest public participation campaign, “Send Your Face to Space.” If I can’t go, at least my face is heading up to LEO.
Here’s how to participate and become part of history:
Hit the “Participate” button and upload your image, which will be flown aboard the space shuttle. Don’t have a picture to upload? No problem, just skip the image upload and NASA will fly your name only on your selected mission.
Next… Print and save the confirmation with your flight information.
Later… Return to the site after the landing to print your Flight Certificate – a commemorative certificate signed by the Mission Commander.
The website also provides a participation map showing where participants are from and, relative to each other, how many are taking part from each country.
NASA has released, for the first time, video of the final inspection of a space shuttle before launch. The Final Inspection Team, also known as the “Ice Team,” performs a walkdown of Kennedy’s Launch Pad 39A during space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-132 launch countdown on May 14, 2010. The six-member team walks on every level of the pad’s fixed service structure, inspecting the shuttle, external fuel tank, solid rocket boosters, pad structure and ground equipment for signs of ice buildup, debris or anything else that might be amiss prior to launch. As part of the inspection, photos are taken and transmitted to the launch team for review.
A videographer for NASA was included as a member of the team to capture the first-ever up close, high-definition video of this important and hazardous inspection process.
Railway cars carrying the final SRB segments arrived at Kennedy Space Center on May 27. 2010. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
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Another end-of-an-era event heralding the conclusion of the space shuttle program: the final set of space shuttle solid rocket booster segments arrived at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, May 27, 2010. The segments were carried on railway cars from the ATK factory in Utah where the boosters are built. The last part of the trip from Jacksonville, Florida included passenger cars carrying NASA personnel and ATK officials, including astronaut Mike Massimino, shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach, and the “voice” of NASA TV, George Diller. The train stopped across the Indian River from KSC where the tracks lead to the Vehicle Assembly Building.
The boosters will be stacked in the VAB for a possible rescue mission, or perhaps, even one last add-on flight for space shuttle Atlantis.
The SRB segments are designated for STS-335, the Launch-On-Need mission that would be flown if the last scheduled shuttle flight — STS-134, now scheduled for launch in late November — would encounter a problem. Or, if Congress allows, another shuttle mission using the ready-to-go shuttle could be added. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson told President Obama in a letter this week that he intended to request funding for the extra mission. NASA hopes to get a go-ahead for the flight, which would become the STS-135 mission, by late June. If approved, the likely launch date would be sometime in the summer of 2011.
NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier said at a news conference this week that if the additional flight were approved, a Soyuz would be readied as a rescue vehicle, and the shuttle crew would be smaller, probably 4 crew members. The crew could take safe harbor at the International Space Station, if needed, until the rescue Soyuz arrived. The shuttle could bring extra supplies and hardware to the ISS. Astronaut Mike Massimino disembarks from the train carrying the SRB segments. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Veteran astronaut Mike Massimino told a Florida television station crew that he hopes for an additional shuttle mission. “I think we have to be optimistic,” Massimino said. “There are just too many people around the country and the world who are so supportive of our program.”
ATK laid off 1,300 of their 5,000 person workforce because of shutting down production of the boosters, but the company is hoping to be part of NASA’s future spaceflight plans.
“There’s quite a bit of uncertainty,” said ATK KSC Deputy Director Ted Shaffner. “The direction is very cloudy from our politicians and NASA is struggling with what direction we do take.”
More images from the event:
Shuttle launch director Mike Leinbach talks with reporters about the final SRB segments. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today. George Diller, the 'voice' of NASA TV, disembarks from the train carrying the SRB segments. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.A Florida East Coast engine brought the SRB railcars to KSC. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.NASA has their own locomotive to bring the railcars to the VAB. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
And I know someone is going to comment on the “Do Not Hump” sign on the railcar. What it means is that the contents of the railcar are delicate enough that the car should not be ‘humped,’ which is a method to sort freight cars by rolling them down a hill instead of using a locomotive engine to move the cars. Obviously, NASA and ATK don’t want the SRB segments to go rolling down a hill. Find out more about humping here.
ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi captured Atlantis and her crew streaking through the atmosphere on their return to Earth. Credit: Soichi Noguchi/JAXA/NASA
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At a post-landing news conference, STS-132 commander Ken Ham described the incredible visual effects the crew of Atlantis witnessed as they returned to Earth today. As the shuttle was engulfed in plasma during the hottest part of their re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere, they were in orbital darkness, which highlighted the orange, fiery glow around the shuttle. “We were clearly riding inside of a fireball, and we flew right into the sunrise from inside this fireball, so we could see the blue color of the Earth’s horizon coming through the orange. It was amazing and just visually overwhelming.”
As evidence, ISS astronaut Soichi Noguchi captured Atlantis as that fireball, streaking though atmosphere, just as dawn approached. “Dawn, and Space Shuttle re-entered atmosphere over Pacific Ocean. 32 years of service, 32nd beautiful landing. Forever, Atlantis!” Noguchi wrote on Twitter, posting a link to the image.
Amazing.
Asked about his thoughts after landing, Ham said, “Walking around Atlantis after the flight I realized I probably just did the most fun and amazing thing I’ll do in my life.”
As for Atlantis, and whether she’ll fly one more time, the latest word is that the NASA authorization bill — as it stand now –will include language authorizing an additional shuttle mission.
As for Noguchi, take in all the images you can now from him on his Twitter feed, He, along with Expedition 23 Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov, and astronaut T.J. Creamer are scheduled to leave the ISS on the Soyuz spacecraft on June 1 and land on the southern region steppe of Kazakhstan, completing almost six months on the station.
Here’s an image Noguchi took of Atlantis just after it undocked from the ISS last weekend.
Atlantis, as seen by Soichi Noguchi from the ISS, after undocking. Credit: Soichi Noguchi/ JAXA/ NASA
A bittersweet moment in space history as Atlantis and her six-member crew landed at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday morning. Very likely, this was Atlantis’ final landing, returning home after 25 years of service. The rich history of the Atlantis space shuttle includes 294 days in space, 4,648 orbits and 120,650,907 miles during 32 flights. There’s a chance this orbiter could fly again – she’ll be readied as a rescue ship for the last scheduled shuttle mission –and many shuttle supporters feel that since Atlantis will be fully geared up, she should fly one last time. But only time (and funding and Congress) will tell if Atlantis will fly again. Continue reading “Atlantis Returns Home — For the Last Time?”
UPDATE: Sorry, but the video includes an annoying loud commercial that starts up automatically every time the page loads on UT, but you should really watch this cool video here. Read about it below, though, first!
This is incredible! Smithsonian Air & Space photographers Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman and Philip Scott Andrews created a unique time-lapse video (at the request of shuttle commander Alan Poindexter) from from thousands of individual frames, and they condense six weeks of painstaking work into three minutes, 52 seconds (read here how they did it). The video quickly chronicles the processing of Discovery for the STS-131 mission, and starts at the Orbiter Processing Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, then goes on to the Vehicle Assembly Building, (the video of how the shuttle is hoisted into a vertical position and lowered onto its external fuel tank is absolutely amazing). Then it’s off to the pad for launch, and you even get to see a quick glimpse of Discovery as it lands. This is the shuttle and mission for which I was able to see much of the processing and pre-launch events, so I found it especially meaningful, but it is even more poignant since the end of the shuttle program is quickly approaching.
Screenshot from NASA TV of the new Rassvet module attached to the space station. Credt: NASA TV
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A 8,550 kg (17,760-pound) Russian Mini-Research Module, known as Rassvet or “Dawn,” was attached to the International Space Station today. This is the first (and last) Russian-built module to be delivered by a space shuttle, and the 8 meter long (20 ft) 2.5 meter (8 ft) diamater module will serve an area for scientific research, as well as for stowage and a docking port extension for future visiting spacecraft such as the Soyuz and Progress resupply vehicles.
“The ISS has grown by one more module,” Moscow mission control radioed up the crew. “We are really very grateful to you. And our congratulations to all of you for this new step in space research and thanks for all your effort and all your work.”
The MRM is packed full of 1,400 kg (3,086 pounds) of NASA equipment and supplies, plus an experiment airlock and European robot arm equipment that will be attached to other modules later. Location of MRM-1 and other components on the Russian Orbital Segment of the ISS
MRM was docked to the Earth-facing port of the central Zarya module, and will provide needed clearance between the forward Russian docking port and a US storage module, the Permanent Logistics Module, scheduled to arrive at the station later this year.
Operations began early this morning to install the MRM, with Atlantis commander Ken Ham and pilot Dominic Antonelli, operating the shuttle’s robot arm to take the new module from the shuttle’s cargo bay. Then astronauts Garrett Reisman and Piers Sellers installed the MRM-1 on Zarya, — appropriately waiting until orbital sunrise to attach the module with great precision. Controllers said Reisman maneuvered the module so precisely, he made a “hole in one.” The MRM, or Rassvet, seen during processing at Cape Canaveral. Image credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Now that the MRM is attached, the ISS and shuttle astronauts now turn their attention to the second spacewalk of the mission scheduled for Wednesday, May 19 to be conducted by Steven Bowen and Michael Good. The primary tasks are the removal and replacement of P6 truss batteries that store solar energy. These batteries have outlived their expected lifespan of 6 years, so the batteries will be swapped out with new ones.
Behind the scenes work has also been ongoing to develop a task to clear a cable that is pinched out on the end of the Atlantis’ boom and sensor system that prevented an inspection of the shuttle’s thermal protection system. NASA TV commentator Kyle Herring said the procedure appears to be a fairly straightforward task to clear the cable out of the way and secure it with a wire-tie. Mission planners are seeing where the procedure fits in best with the rest of the spacewalks tasks.
SRBs from Atlantis' May 14 launch were returned to Cape Canaveral Monday morning. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
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Here’s an event we don’t get to see very often. It is a post-launch activity that is not well publicized and of course, with the retirement of the space shuttles fast approaching, we have just a few opportunities to see it again. Early Monday morning, the solid rocket boosters used for space shuttle Atlantis’ launch last week were towed back to Port Canaveral after their recovery from the Atlantic Ocean. Universe Today photographer Alan Walters captured some images of the return, and in the image above, the Liberty Star — one of two unique ships specifically designed and constructed for this task — returns one booster through the locks at the Port. Visible is the “business end” of the booster. A spokesperson at Kennedy Space Center said these two boosters will be refurbished, just in case they are needed in the future.
See more images below.
Nozzle end of the SRB. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
Here’s a close-up of the nozzle end of the SRB, a little worse for wear after the launch. After the boosters do their job and are jettisoned from the shuttle, they fall back to the ocean. The parachutes provide for a nozzle-first impact, so air is trapped in the empty motor casing, causing the booster to float with the forward end approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) out of the water. Once the boosters are located, divers insert a plug in the nozzle (the metal object in the middle of the nozzle) called the Diver Operated Plug. The divers “dewater” the SRBs by pumping air into and water out of the SRB. This causes the SRB to change from a nose-up floating position to a horizontal attitude more suitable for towing.
Top end of SRB visible alongside the Liberty Star. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today
The top end of the SRB is visible in this image. The nose cap is jettisoned at an altitude of 2.9 statute miles (2.5 nautical miles/4.6 kilometers) and deploys the pilot parachute.
An SRB fully loaded with propellant weighs about 1.4 million pounds (635,040 kilograms). They stand 149.2 feet (45.5 meters) tall, and have a diameter of 12 feet (3.6 meters). The boosters in use today are the largest solid propellant motors ever developed for space flight and the first to be used on a manned space vehicle. These boosters will propel the orbiter to a speed of 3,512 miles per hour (5,652 kilometers per hour).
Approximately two minutes after the Space Shuttle lifts off from the launch pad, the twin SRBs have expended their fuel, and the boosters separate from the orbiter and its external tank at an altitude of approximately 30.3 statute miles (26.3 nautical miles/48.7 kilometers) above the Earth. After separation, momentum will propel the SRBs for another 70 seconds to an altitude of 44.5 statute miles (38.6 nautical miles/71.6 kilometers) before they begin their long tumble back to Earth.
The frustum for the SRB. Image credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
This is the frustum, which holds the drogue shoot. It is jettisoned from the booster after the drogue shoot stabilizes the SRB in a tail-first attitude, and is separated by a pyrotechnic charge about 243 seconds after SRB separation.
The main parachutes are the first items to be brought on board the recovery ships. Their shroud lines are wound onto each of three of the four reels on the ship’s deck. The drogue parachute, attached to the frustum, is reeled onto the fourth reel until the frustum is approximately 50 feet astern of the ship. The 5,000-pound (2,268-kilogram) frustum is then lifted from the water using the ship’s power block and deck crane.
Liberty Star with an SRB in tow. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
The ships enter Port Canaveral, where the booster is changed from the stern tow position to a position alongside the ship to allow greater control. The ships then pass through a drawbridge, Canaveral Locks, and transit the Banana River to a hanger. They are lifted from the water with specially made Straddle-Lift cranes and placed on rail cars to begin the disassembly and refurbishment process.
Liberty Star returns an SRB on May 17, 2010. Credit: Alan Walters (awaltersphoto.com) for Universe Today.
The Liberty Star and the Freedom star each have a crew of ten; a nine-person SRB retrieval team, a retrieval supervisor, a NASA representative, and some observers, with the maximum complement at 24 persons.
While the ships were built especially for NASA for retrieving the SRBs, they’ve also been used for other purposes, including side-scan sonar operations, cable-laying, underwater search and salvage, drone aircraft recovery, platforms for robotic submarine operations and numerous support roles for other government agencies.
The ships have a special water jet system in the stern thruster which allows the ship to move in any direction without the use of propellers. This system was installed to protect the endangered manatee population that inhabits regions of the Banana River where the ships are based. The system also allows divers to work near the ship during operations at a greatly reduced risk.
Thanks to Alan Walters for getting up early this morning to capture these great, unique images.
