Atlantis is continuing to behave on Pad 39A as preparations for entering S0007 tasks – otherwise known as the three day launch countdown – remain on track, with the clock’s scheduled to start ticking backwards at 1pm local on Tuesday. STS-135 will mark the final scheduled Space Shuttle mission, although the actual duration of the [...]
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Orbital Sciences Corporation have launched the ORS-1 spacecraft for the United States’ Operationally Responsive Space Office via the tenth flight of a Minotaur I rocket, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island. The successful launch – at 11:09pm Eastern – came after a weather related scrub on Tuesday and two delays during Wednesday’s countdown [...]
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The Agency Flight Readiness Review (FRR) has – as expected – approved the July 8 launch date, after all outstanding issues were confirmed to be out of Atlantis’ path for what will be the final Space Shuttle mission. Meanwhile, the International Space Station (ISS) crew were put through a contingency event on Tuesday, following a [...]
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As all teams continue to track a July 8 launch of STS-135, an important final milestone was reached this month with the final integrated launch and mission simulations (sims) with the Flight Crew and their Flight Control Team. Particularly, these sims gave the crews a chance to practice a modified Systems Abort-Once-Around abort, an abort procedure [...]
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A critical step in the process of clearing STS-135/Atlantis and her systems for flight has been completed in the form of the In-Flight Anomaly Review (IFA Review) for the previous program flight: STS-134/Endeavour. Particularly, Endeavour’s booster rockets were shown to have performed excellently during the May 2011 retirement flight of OV-105, with only one outstanding [...]
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Following its replacement on Atlantis’ SSME-3 (Space Shuttle Main Engine), the new Main Fuel Valve (MFV) underwent testing at Pad 39A - with a slight delay to its completion due to a hydraulic leak - aimed at providing confidence the hardware will perform as required during the launch countdown. Meanwhile, inspections on ET-138′s stringers have been completed [...]
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With her team ably dealing with the usual pad flow hiccups, Atlantis is heading towards her July 8 launch date with no major issues, with the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) completed on Thursday. While inspections continue on the numerous stringers on Atlantis’ External Tank (ET-138), work on the camera modification – designed to film [...]
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As the flight crew and engineers close in on the targeted July 8 launch of Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis and the STS-135/ULF7 mission to the International Space Station, mission managers are continuing their Flight Readiness Review process with a thorough review of the new operations, special topics, items of interest, and mission timeline get-wells from [...]
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Multiple efforts are under way for Atlantis’ STS-135 launch preparations, as her four member crew arrived at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT). As engineers check the health of External Tank ET-138′s stringers, following last week’s Tanking Test, the replacement of a Main Fuel Valve (MFV) on Space Shuttle [...]
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Following a highly successful four month mission, Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) spacecraft has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday, for a destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere on Tuesday. ATV-2′s undocking will clear the way for the launch of Russia’s Progress M-11M/43P spacecraft, which took place on Tuesday, with a docking to [...]
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China has launched the ZX-10 ZhongXing-10 – also designated ChinaSat-10, Sinosat-5 or Xinnuo-5 – domestic communications satellite on Monday (16:13 UTC) from the Xi Chang Satellite Launch Center, in Sichuan Province. The launch was conducted by China’s Long March 3B (CZ-3B/E Chang Zheng-3B/E) launch vehicle.
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With just three weeks to go before the final launch of the Space Shuttle, Atlantis remains on course for her big day on July 8. Meanwhile, NASA and mission managers met this week for the main Flight Readiness Reviews (FRR). During the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) FRR, the STS-135/ULF-7 flight timeline was thoroughly reviewed ahead of [...]
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Following an intense week of executive level reviews, a decision has been made on the configuration for NASA’s new launch vehicle. With NASA administrator Charlie Bolden agreeing to a configuration which is heavily derived from the retiring Space Shuttle, an official announcement is likely to be made on July 8, coinciding with the Shuttle’s final [...]
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Atlantis’ External Tank (ET-138) was put through a Tanking Test on Wednesday, slightly delayed due to a lightning storm which passed over the the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). The test – which is checking the health of the tank’s LO2 stringers – is showing positive signs, although a Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME-3) Main Fuel [...]
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With the US Segment of the International Space Station (ISS) now complete, NASA managers are turning their attention away from the era of construction and maintenance of the station and toward the new era of utilization, which includes advanced technology demos ranging from beam energy transfer to robotic servicing.
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Interrupting a nominal pad flow, engineers are set to begin S0037 operations – otherwise known as a tanking test – on Monday, ahead of tanking of External Tank ET-138 on Wednesday. The test will check the health of the tank’s intertank stringers, following the issue of cracks being found in the related ET-137, after STS-133′s [...]
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As engineers continue to safe Endeavour, following her highly successful final mission, an investigation into the observed brake fire – as the orbiter came to a stop on the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway – is struggling to find a specific root cause. Elevated to the Flight Readiness Reviews (FRRs), the STS-134 incident is classed [...]
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The United Launch Alliance (ULA) have launched their Delta II rocket to loft the SAC-D spacecraft into orbit for the Argentine space agency, CONAE, on Friday. Launch occurred at the start of a five minute window opening at 14:20:13 UTC (07:20 local time), lifting off from Space Launch Complex 2W at the Vandenberg Air Force [...]
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Schedules are showing the External Tank camera – which will ride with Atlantis’ ET-138 – is to be modified – allowing it to beam back video of the tank’s disintegration after parting ways with the orbiter at MECO (Main Engine Cut Off). Meanwhile, STS-135′s pad flow now includes the replacement of the left outboard Window [...]
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The second of Russia’s new digital Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz TMA-02M/27S, blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday at 8:12 PM GMT, carrying three new crewmembers for the International Space Station (ISS). Following a two day free flight, Soyuz TMA-02M arrived at the ISS on Thursday for a docking to the Mini Research Module-1 [...]
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