Archive for April, 2009
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
With Discovery safely back from STS-119, Atlantis undergoing pad processing for STS-125, and Endeavour ready to roll to the VAB on Friday ahead of STS-400/127, NASA is hard at work preparing for a busy summer launch schedule while planning continues for future flights. Of these future flights, the Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) has officially [...]
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Tags: PRCB, Russia, STS-132
Published in Featured, Shuttle
Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
Expedition 18 Commander Michael Fincke, Flight Engineer and Soyuz TMA-13 Commander Yury Lonchakov and space tourist Charles Simonyi have returned home safely, following their landing in Kazakhstan this morning. The safe return backs up the findings presented in an expansive NASA and Russian document that outlined the off-nominal ballistic re-entries of Soyuz TMA-10 and 11, [...]
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Tags: ISS, Soyuz
Published in Featured, Russian
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Aiding the requirement of flight rationale for STS-125, engineers have found that the three replacement Flow Control Valves (FCVs) that flew on STS-119 suffered from no cracking, following inspections on the valves after they had been removed from Discovery. The news comes as managers prepare to conduct both the post flight review of STS-119 and [...]
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Tags: FCV, STS-119, STS-125
Published in Featured, Shuttle
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Due to a conflict with Shuttle Crew Scheduling Constraints (SCSC) rules relating to off duty time during flight, NASA managers have recommended an increase of STS-127 to a 16 day mission (16+0+2). The confirmation came via a PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) meeting presentation, which also outlined alternative options. The mission length will be under review [...]
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Tags: JAXA, PRCB, SpaceX, STS-127
Published in Featured, Shuttle
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
No issues are being worked on Atlantis at Pad 39A, as STS-125 continues to proceed towards launch in just over a month’s time. One crucial element for the May 12 launch is the replacement hardware that Atlantis will carry to the Hubble Space Telescope, with several days of mission content simulations taking place next week, [...]
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Tags: FRR, GUCP, STS-125
Published in Featured, Shuttle
Friday, April 3rd, 2009
United Launch Alliance (ULA) has launched the WGS-2 satellite on an Atlas V rocket, with lift-off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral at 21:33 EDT, Friday. The launch was realigned following an issue with the Centaur LOX pump led to the termination of tanking and put pay to the March 17 launch attempt.
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Tags: Atlas V, Proton-M, ULA
Published in Unmanned
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
With Space Shuttle Atlantis undergoing her second round of pad processing for the much anticipated flagship mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in May, NASA managers continue to refine the complex ballet of procedures for STS-125 and its associated Launch On Need (LON) mission, STS-400 – with Endeavour on track for rollover to the VAB [...]
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Tags: FRR, STS-125, STS-400
Published in Featured, Shuttle
Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
Imagery taken of the delaminated panel on the International Space Station’s S1 Radiator has revealed a “structural risk” on the array, which has the potential to create an ammonia leak in the External Thermal Control System (ETCS). NASA managers are considering options that include flying a replacement radiator array on a downstream shuttle mission, along [...]
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Tags: ISS, STS-119, STS-128
Published in Featured, Shuttle