Shuttle Endeavour has launched on the second launch to start STS-130, following a 24 hour scrub due to unacceptable cloud cover on Sunday morning. The youngest orbiter in the fleet behaved well on the pad with no issues ahead of her 4:14 Eastern liftoff. Meanwhile, another key element of the Flight Readiness Review (FRR) covered [...]
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Capping off a highly successful year for the Space Shuttle Program, the STS-129 flight of Atlantis last month has undergone its final, official post-flight assessment: the all-important In-Flight Anomaly (IFA) review. In all, STS-129 was a clean flight, particularly for the vehicle’s Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) and Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSMEs).
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The Space Shuttle Program (SSP) will have “no idea” where it stands from a budget standpoint until February, as the viability of extending the shuttle manifest continues to be eroded by the lack of a clear direction at the political level. The irony of running head first into shuttle retirement comes as the Space Shuttle [...]
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Atlantis is enjoying a relatively smooth pad flow, with only three issues being worked, as engineers prepare the shuttle for the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT) next week. Flight rationale has also been produced for Atlantis’ SSMEs (Space Shuttle Main Engines), following small leaks on both Endeavour and Discovery engine nozzles during the previous two [...]
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Atlantis is preparing to mate with her External Tank (ET-133) and twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), following rollover to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, engineers are finaling plans to protect the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) nozzles at the pad, following leaks on the last two missions, and an observation of [...]
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STS-129 is pressing ahead with the next processing milestone, with Atlantis preparing to roll over from her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-1) for the short journey to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the shipping dates have been set for the next two External Tanks (ETs) – both scheduled to arrive at the Kennedy Space [...]
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Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engineers have found the application of “tacky tape” – used to seal the throat plugs on the Space Shuttle Main Engines (SSME) since the 1990s – was the initial root cause of 340 leaks on Endeavour’s number one engine during STS-127’s ascent. Meanwhile, three SSMEs are scheduled to be installed on [...]
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A failure investigation team has been created for Endeavour’s Number One Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) that was used during STS-127, which was found to have hundreds of leaks in its nozzle tubing during post-flight inspections. The engine – which was passed to fly after suffering from contamination at the pad ahead of flight - thankfully enjoyed a nominal performance [...]
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With final launch processing underway on Shuttle Endeavour at Launch Pad-A, NASA managers have outlined several changes to Endeavour’s Main Propulsion System (MPS), Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP), and Flight Operations & Integration procedures that will debut on STS-127 next week.
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Atlantis has returned to Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-1) in preparation for her flow towards the STS-129 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Marking a busy period for the fleet, Discovery is receiving her SSMEs (Space Shuttle Main Engines) for STS-128, while Endeavour’s SSMEs are being evaluated – after corrosion/contamination was seen on tubing associated [...]
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Even though shuttle managers are preparing for two missions in the space of a month, efforts on the downstream flights are at various stages of processing and planning, all the way through to STS-135 – which is currently the LON (Launch On Need) placeholder for what is currently the last shuttle mission – STS-134 – [...]
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STS-119’s opening launch attempt has been scrubbed until Sunday, March 15,, following a LH2 leak during tanking. The leak related to a carrier plate that is attached to the intertank area of the ET, with attempts to cycle the associated valve to reduce the leak to acceptable proving to be unsuccessful.
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Constellation engineers are carrying out an evaluation process into a potential option of going back to the SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) on the Ares V first stage, which in turn would allow a return to a five segment Solid Rocket Boosters on the giant vehicle.
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