Endeavour’s Californian option was taken after unacceptable weather conditions at KSC for both of Sunday’s opportunities – along with similar forecasts for Monday – resulted in a forward plan to head to Edwards.

In a pefect touchdown, commander Chris Ferguson was understandly pleased to be back on the ground after over two weeks in micro G.

“We thought we’d take the opportunity to come out and take a look at this gorgeous orbiter,” he said, after walking around Endeavour about an hour after wheels stop.

“Thank you to all throughout the NASA communities who supported us. It’s great to be back on the ground and back in California.”

Endeavour became the first and last an orbiter to place her wheels on the tempory runway 22 at Edwards, due to refurbishment of the main runway that runs parallel. The main runway will be used for STS-119 onwards.

The orbiter will cared for by Dryden engineers for around five days, as Endeavour is moved to the mate/demate facility, where she will be fitted with an aft cone over her SSMEs (Space Shuttle Main Engines) to reduce aerodynamic drag during her ferry flight.

There she will be put through further deservicing processing, ahead of the pre-flight flow for her next mission – STS-127, which is awaiting a firm launch slot, due to continued refinements to the downstream shuttle launch manifest.

STS-127 will complete assembly of the Kibo Laboratory complex, via a complex array of payloads that will require a 15 day mission with five baselined EVAs. Aside from installing the Japanese Experiment Module – Exposed Facility (JEM-EF), Endeavour’s crew will be tasked with replacing six batteries on the P6 truss.

Taking center stage in Endeavour’s crowded Payload Bay will be the JEM-EF and the Japanese Experiment Logistics Module – Exposed Section (ELM-ES). Once at the Station, crewmembers will conduct an EVA to install the JEM-EF to the JEM-PM.

A subsequent EVA will see astronauts install the ELM-ES to the JEM-EF and transfer three payloads to their on-orbit home on the JEM-EF.

‘Deliver ELM-ES to JEM-EF and transfer ICS-EF (Inter-Orbit Communication System – Exposed Facility), SEDA-AP (Space Environment Data Acquisition equipment – Attached Payload), and MAXI (Monitor of All Sky X-ray Image) to JEM-EF,’ noted the 35 page PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) STS-127 baselined presentation available on L2.

Following the transfer of these three payloads, the ELM-ES will be transferred back to Endeavour’s Payload Bay for return to Earth.

In addition to the JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) payloads, the remaining bays of Endeavour’s Payload Bay will be filled with a variety of payloads for not only the Station, but also the Department of Defense and the Johnson Space Center Engineering Division.

After the Kibo activities are complete, the crew will turn their attention to replacing six batteries on the P6 truss. These batteries will ride up-hill on the Integrated Cargo Carrier-Vertical Light Deployable (ICC-VLD).

After maneuvering the ICC-VLD to the Station’s truss, astronauts will remove and replace six batteries on the P6 truss. Once removed, the old batteries will be stowed on the ICC-VLD.

Also hitching a ride on the ICC-VLD are the LDU (Linear Drive Unit), PM-2 (Pump Module-2), and the SGANT (Space to Ground Antennae) – all of which will be transferred to ESP-3 (External Stowage Platform-3) during an EVA.

As with the ELM-ES, the ICC-VLD will be returned to Endeavour’s Payload Bay for return to Earth at the end of the mission.

In addition to these ISS-bond payloads, Endeavour will also carry two sidewall mounted secondary payloads which will be deployed in the post-undock timeframe.

One of these payloads is the Canister for All Payload Ejection/Atmospheric Neutral Density Experiment-2 – also known as CAPE/ANDE-2 – for the US Department of Defense. CAPE/ANDE-1 was deployed by the STS-116 crew in December 2006.

The second sidewall payload will be SSPL/DRAGONSAT (Space Shuttle Picosat Launcher/Dual RF Autonomous GPS On-Orbit Navigator Satellite) for the Johnson Space Center Engineering Division, notes the PRCB document. The payload bay will also include two ‘payloads of opportunity’ for the Department of Defense.

L2 members: All documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4000 gbs in size.

Related posts:

1. Endeavour rollaround moved forward to Thursday – FRR concludes The unique transfer of Endeavour and the STS-126 stack from...
2. Dual flow ballet for Endeavour and Atlantis – De-stack debate Preliminary milestone schedules have been created for the complex dual...
3. RSS retracted to reveal Endeavour – ODS issue cleared for flight STS-126′s S0007 launch countdown operations have reached another milestone, with...

A weather front – along with unacceptable crosswinds – removed the possibility of Endeavour landing on one of two opportunities at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), which eventually led to the third opportunity to land at Edwards Air Force Base in California becoming the only available option for Sunday.

Endeavour could have attempted a return to her home base of KSC on Monday, which was be the basis of the decision on whether to head to California on Sunday, or wave off in the hope of landing at KSC on Monday. However, due to poor weather expected again on Monday, Edwards on Sunday was decided as Endeavour’s best opportunity to land.

The Edwards opportunity on Sunday will result in a Californian landing at 4:25pm Eastern.

While the processing timelines for the downstream manifest can handle the additional week it would take to return Endeavour to KSC – via the SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) – the debut use of the temporary runway at the Edwards Air Force Base is now assured.

The main runway 22 has undergone extensive resurfacing - which initially removed it as an option for Discovery’s return home on STS-124. However, on that occasion, Discovery landed on the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at KSC.

Interestingly, work has been completed ahead of schedule on the main runway at Edwards, but not in time to relocate the shuttle landing aids required by the orbiter from the temporary runway, thus the refurbished strip will only be available from STS-119 onwards.

Although the new 12,000 x 200 ft runway is shorter and narrower than the main runway (15,000 X 300 ft), flight rules were put in place since STS-124 to ensure Endeavour will still have lots of margins for her rollout.

Endeavour is continuing to behave herself on orbit, with no new issues of note being worked by engineers at the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Flight Day 16 involved the final preparations for re-entry, with the checkout of the flight control surfaces – which used one of the orbiter’s Auxiliary Power Units (APU). The crew also tested all of Endeavour’s Reaction Control System jets.

During STS-124, those tests caused one of Discovery’s Rudder Speed Brake (RSB) tabs to liberate from the aft of the vehicle. Mitigation via the orbiter’s processing flow appears to have worked, with no repeat noted during FD16′s checkouts.

The purpose of the RSB thermal barriers and spring tabs are to protect the RSB cavity from plume radiation during ascent and to control/maintain the cavity venting requirements during ascent. The tabs are attached to the barriers with three spot welds. Fatigue due to chatter during ascent is considered the primary cause for these welds to fail, and result in the STS-124 liberation.

During the mitigation on all three orbiters, Endeavour was found to have a problem with one spring tab that was broken at the weld point, leading to its replacement during her STS-126 processing flow.

Ironically there was a liberation event during the checkouts, although this time it proved only to be a temp pressure label that liberated from Endeavour’s payload bay, and has no mission impact.

Later in the day, Endeavour carried out the deployment of a solar cell experiment Picosat on behalf of the Department of Defence (DOD). The tiny satellite was sent on its way via a spring release system on the cargo bay’s sidewall.

The satellite will test two types of new solar cells in the harsh environment of space, with the performance of the solar cells – and their degradation over time – to be used to determine if they are fit to use in flight.

“Space Shuttle Picosat Launcher 5510/Picosat Solar Cell Experiment (SSPL 5510/PSSC). PSSC has picosatellites designed to test solar cells in space,” noted STS-126 SSP Flight Readiness Review (FRR) documentation on L2. “Picosatellites are ejected after ISS undock using a Non-Explosive Actuator (NEA) via spring force.

“SSPL 5510/PSSC is attached to PLB sidewall using the Adaptive Payload Carrier (APC). Deployment command/telemetry provided by crew via standard switch panel. Weight: 126 lbs; picosats deployed weight: 16 lbs.”

In a month’s time, its 8D model rocket motors – the same used by some rocket model rocketeers – will fire to adjust its orbit.

“Unused space being used to study micro satellite propulsion with solid rocket motors via ground command and tracked by radar,” added the presentation. “Picosat has ability to adjust its own orbit and will do so at end of primary mission. Burn is no earlier than 30 days after deploy.”

Updates to this article will be added during the day – refer to the live coverage pages for up to the second updates.

L2 members: All documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4000 gbs in size.

Related posts:

1. Endeavour and her SCA piggyback ride arrive in Louisiana, via JSC flyover The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and Endeavour departed from Edwards...
2. STS-126: Super smooth Endeavour easing through the countdown to L-1 A loose washer on a ground support carrier plate is...
3. Dual flow ballet for Endeavour and Atlantis – De-stack debate Preliminary milestone schedules have been created for the complex dual...