Discovery has completed her journey back out to Pad 39A with her modified External Tank (ET-137), with first motion at 8pm local on Monday evening, following an issue-free installation of radius blocks on most of its intertank stringers. With a high-level of confidence in the mitigation of further cracks on the stringers during loading and [...]
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Hot on the heels of JAXA’s HTV-2 arrival at the International Space Station (ISS), Russia’s Progress M-09M/41P spacecraft has docked with the ISS folllowing its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After a short duration enroute to the Station, the Russian vehicle docked to the ISS at the Docking Compartment-1 (DC-1) Pirs Nadir port [...]
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25-years ago today, Space Shuttle Challenger was lost with all hands in the bright blue sky over Central Florida. Embarking on her 10th mission on January 28, 1986, Challenger was at the time the most-flown orbiter in NASA’s fleet. Quickly rising to prominence as the fleet leader (in terms of not only the number of [...]
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After less than a week in space, Japan’s HTV-2 spacecraft was successfully grappled by the ISS crew via the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System), ahead of berthing to Node-2 Nadir - which was completed at 0951 EST. Over the coming days, the ISS crew will remove external payloads from HTV-2 before moving the spacecraft to a [...]
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Endeavour is set to depart from her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-2) on February 28, as milestones begin to align for her April 19 (No Earlier Than) launch to the International Space Station (ISS). With her External Tank (ET-122) and Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) mated, borescope inspections of ET-122′s stringers have been completed.
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NASA Ames Research Center held an All Hands meeting last Wednesday, revealing a surprisingly honest assessment of its own weaknesses – both internally and within the the NASA family. The associated All Hands report cites trust issues between its employees and senior managers, complains about animosity from NASA HQ and other centers, whilst announcing steps [...]
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A group of United Space Alliance (USA) and Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) technicians and engineers have finished work on modifying the stringers on Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137), with only foam application tasks outstanding. With the root cause evaluations and subsequent modifications ensuring there is “no uncertainty” on all flight tanks, STS-133 remains on track for rollout [...]
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Representing the third spaceflight of 2011, JAXA’s HTV-2 vehicle, atop the H-IIB rocket, launched at 1537 JST (0137 CST) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. With its second flight, the HTV will deliver thousands of pounds of internal and external cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and serve as a means for [...]
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The International Space Station (ISS) Expedition 26 crew have conducted the Russian EVA-27 on Friday, marking the first in what is currently planned to be a total of 10 Shuttle and ISS EVAs in 2011. Projected to be a six hour EVA, the spacewalk began with hatch opening at 2:29 PM GMT and ended well ahead of schedule at [...]
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The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy has made its first launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Thursday. The rocket, launched on schedule from Vandenberg Air Force Base, lifting off at 21:10 UTC, en route to placing a classified payload – L-49 – into orbit for the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).
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Discovery’s final mission to the International Space Station (ISS) remains on track for February 24, despite a late change to the crew. With Mission Specialist – and lead spacewalker – Tim Kopra injured in a biking accident, managers have decided to assign Steve Bowen as part of the crew as his replacement, with Kopra’s MS2 [...]
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In an interview with NASASpaceflight.com, Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) Director Paul Hill spoke of his pride for the MOD community, whilst outlining his vision for the future as NASA prepares to transition into a new post-Shuttle era of Commercial opportunities and a return to manned exploration outside of Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
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Planning for the launch of a Block I Orion via a Delta IV Heavy is continuing, with recommendations for a “Joint Test and Mission Operations Team” comprised of Lockheed Martin and NASA-Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) personnel for the test flight. Orion – also now known as Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) – is scheduled to be [...]
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Shuttle Discovery is aiming to roll back out to Pad 39A on February 1, following what will be the completion of numerous “radius block” modifications to the circumferance of her External Tank (ET-137). NASA managers are also evaluating impacts to crew training – and potentially the launch date – following the injury sustained by STS-133′s [...]
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International Space Station Program (ISSP) managers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston held a two-day meeting this week to discuss the prospect of adding a Bigelow Aerospace inflatable module to the ISS. The Technical Interchange Meeting (TIM) ran on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th January.
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Endeavour’s final mission has slipped to the second half of April – as expected – due to the realignment of her older sister’s STS-133 mission to February 24. The April 19 mission, which remains under the command of Mark Kelly, has a large amount of contingency time in its flow, which will allow for inspections [...]
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A preliminary NASA report, outlining plans for developing a Space Launch System (SLS) in response to the NASA Authorization Act of 2010, has put its weight behind a Inline Shuttle Derived (SD) Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV). However, the report to lawmakers complained it would not be able to build the vehicle based on the [...]
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Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) technicians and engineers are working hard to replace, repair and modify numerous stringers on Discovery’s External Tank (ET-137), as NASA managers negotiate with their European partners on the upcoming ATV-2 mission, with an aim to allow Discovery to track a February 24 No Earlier Than (NET) [...]
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A study into Active Debris Removal (ADR) has begun laying the foundations of a long term project to remove large pieces of orbital debris from space. The effort, which may grow into an international project, aims to eventually remove around five large pieces of debris – such as the numerous spent Upper Stages from Russian [...]
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Following the further delay of the STS-133/ULF-5 mission into late February, International Space Station (ISS) Program Managers are readjusting the mission plans for Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) “Johannes Kepler” and Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle-2 (HTV-2) “Kounotori”. Both vehicles will be present at the ISS during the STS-133 mission, which should provide for some stunning [...]
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