Atlantis has rolled back out to Pad 39A for her re-aligned STS-125 mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. First motion for the stack was registered at 3:54am local time, for a 11am arrival at the pad, after which the vehicle will undergo a hotfire of all three of her Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) tonight. Meanwhile [...]
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Following her 13 day mission in space on STS-119, Discovery is being deserviced inside her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-3), ahead of her next mission, STS-128. Close inspections of her Thermal Protection System (TPS) created a list of work that will be carried during her 101 day processing flow.
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Discovery has completed her highly successful mission to the International Space Station (ISS) with a return to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Saturday. The crew of STS-119 had two opportunities to land in Florida – with the first waved off due to unpredictable weather. A GO for the deorbit burn on Orbit 202 was given, [...]
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NASA’s Constellation Program (CxP) will conduct a “Content and Schedule” summit meeting in the next few months, after it was evaluated their current schedules are “broken”. The meeting will aim to protect against a slip that is estimated to be as serious as 18 months, or outright cancellation for Ares I. Meanwhile, the push for [...]
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Another major milestone in the flow towards the final Hubble Servicing Mission has taken place, after Atlantis completed mating operations with External Tank (ET-130) inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). However, an incident during mating has resulted in tile damage on the belly of the orbiter, which was repaired on Friday morning.
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A Russian Soyuz launch vehicle has launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:49am CDT, carrying NASA astronaut Michael Barratt, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, and spaceflight participant and U.S. software engineer Charles Simonyi.
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Shuttle manager John Shannon has described Discovery’s performance as “amazing”, ahead of Wednesday’s undocking from the International Space Station (ISS). Discovery is now heading to Late Inspections of her Thermal Protection System (TPS) on Flight Day 12 of STS-119.
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A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II rocket has launched this morning, carrying GPS-IIR-20, the penultimate spacecraft of the current block of GPS satellites. Lift-off from Launch Complex 17A at Cape Canaveral was on time, at the start of a window running from 08:34 to 08:49 GMT (04:34-04:49 EDT).
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Spacewalkers Richard Arnold and Joseph Acaba have completed the final EVA of STS-119, tasked with several replanned elements, including troubleshooting on the Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attach System (UCCAS), which proved to be problematic. Meanwhile, no issues of note are being worked on Discovery, although engineers are monitoring the amount of propellant Discovery has been using [...]
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The Constellation Program (CxP) test flight, Ares I-X, has slipped three weeks to a NET (No Earlier Than) July 31 – with the potential for more delays – on the latest planning documents, as the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) prepare to announce the dual use of Pads 39A and 39B for their STS-125 and STS-400 [...]
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Due to the deletion of EVA-4 from the docked phase of STS-119, spacewalkers Joseph Acaba (EV3) and Steven Swanson (EV1) were tasked with a packed EVA-2 on Flight Day 7. Meanwhile, Discovery continues to perform like a champ, with no issues of note being worked.
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Discovery continues to perform without any issues of note as her crew completed the task of remotely deploying the 1B and 3B solar arrays from the newly installed S6 integrated truss structure on the International Space Station (ISS). The operation was a huge success for both arrays, which are now fully deployed on the Station.
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Following the successful handover of the S6 truss element to the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS) on Wednesday, astronauts Steven Swanson and Rick Arnold have completed STS-119’s first Extravehicular Activity (EVA) on Flight Day 5. The first of three planned EVAs for STS-119 saw Swanson and Arnold install the final integrated truss element – [...]
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A complex ballet of robotics between the Shuttle and Station arms took place on Wednesday, as the S6 is transitioned out of Discovery’s payload bay ahead of installation on Thursday. Engineers on the ground have also cleared Discovery’s Thermal Protection System (TPS) from requiring a Focused Inspection.
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Discovery has docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on Flight Day 3, as the initial TPS (Thermal Protection System) inspection images show a very clean orbiter. Prior to docking, Discovery carried out the RPM (Rbar Pitch Maneuver) for a full check of her TPS and belly.
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Discovery is completed her opening Thermal Protection System (TPS) inspections on Flight Day 2 of STS-119, as engineers on the ground evaluate ascent imagery and the opening ‘funnies’ reported to the Mission Evaluation Room (MER). In total, engineers have reported eight issues – all of which are minor and have no mission impact.
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A Russian Rockot launch vehicle – a converted SS-19 Russian Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) – launched on Tuesday, following a 24 hour delay when Monday’s attempt was scrubbed at T-7 seconds, due to an issue with the Launch Service Tower. The vehicle is carrying the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) spacecraft into orbit on Monday.
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STS-119 has launched after an issue-free tanking and countdown, following engineering work to troubleshoot a LH2 (GH2) leak from the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) attached to the External Tank. Discovery launched at 19:43pm local time launch, with added focus on the T-0 umbilicals on the TSM (Tail Service Masts) - following an incident on STS-126.
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The second launch attempt for STS-119 will take place on Sunday at 19:43pm local time, pending the expected resolution of the leak related to the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) – which caused the scrub of Wednesday’s attempt. Engineers are currently in S007.300 scrub turnaround procedures, but are eight hours down on the timeline – [...]
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The three members of Expedition 18 carried out the contingency of “evacuation” into the Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station (ISS), following a “RED threshold late notice conjunction threat” alert, related to Object “25090 PAM-D” debris. The threat passed with no impact, allowing the crew to egress back into the Station.
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