Starting off the year: the rollout, launch campaign, and flight of STS-130/Endeavour:

After spending the holiday season of 2009 inside of the VAB safely mated to her External Tank/Solid Rocket Booster (ET/SRB) stack, the Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour and the STS-130 vehicle began the slow crawl to Launch Complex 39A at 0413 EST on January 6 – a rollout that garnered attention not only as the first rollout of the year, but also as one of the coldest rollouts undertaken by the Space Shuttle Program.

So cold were the overnight/morning temperatures at the Kennedy Space Center, that the normal, pre-rollout ops at the Kennedy Space Center were spread out over a longer period of time than the started 4hrs from rollout Call to Stations to rollout first motion.

In fact, Call to Stations occurred nearly 11 hours prior to rollout, starting at 1700 EST January 5th. Much of this extra time was dedicated to the activation of special heating and purging equipment to ensure that certain Endeavour systems could be maintained at adequate temperatures for the duration of the rollout since the temperature at the start of rollout was 32 degrees F and dipped as low at 30 degrees F roughly three hours into the rollout.

Once at Pad-A, ground crews completed all pad integration activities and began a planned 32-day flow toward a targeted February 7 launch date. Less than one day into the pad flow came word that Endeavour’s primary payload, the Node-3/Tranquility module had a rather significant engineering issue relating to its exterior ammonia (NH3) cooling hoses.

As noted by ISS Flight Director Robert Dempsey, “While proof testing one of the new flight unit ammonia lines there was another rupture. A tiger team has been formed and dispatched to California to begin looking at options and schedule impacts.”

The lines, which were expected to be delivered to the Kennedy Space Center for launch at the end of January, were undergoing additional ground proof testing following two previous ruptures in December 2009.

NASA immediately began reviewing options which ranged from truncating the STS-130 mission from 3 EVAs (Spacewalks) to 1 EVA and still launching in the February timeframe without a resolution/modification to the ammonia lines, or delaying the mission until later in the year when a resolution would be available – a move that would have placed the following STS-131 mission on Discovery ahead of Endeavour/STS-130 in launch order.

“Due to the history, options could be a full redesign, a tweak, a new vendor – which would mean a slip to the nominal mission timeline. As you might expect, (ISS Program Manager Mike) Suffredini wants us to assess the impact to performing a modified mission where we just install the Node 3 and hook up the LTA (Launch To Activation) cables.

“We will also consider swapping the order of the missions.”

The issue itself arised primarily because of a last-minute change to Node-3′s berthing location on the ISS. This change in berthing location meant that the ammonia coolant lines would have to bend at a near 90-degree angle to properly interface with ISS systems.

Nonetheless, within a few days of the issue’s rise to prominence, NASA had demonstrated an amazing work effort to understand the jumper hose failure issue and design a potential workaround that would allow the nominally planned STS-130 mission to maintain its target launch date of Feb. 7.

According to another ISS Flight Director Robert Dempsey memo from early January, “There are two parallel paths being worked to get us NH3 lines in time for our launch date, or with a slight delay. We are by far not out of the woods yet, but this is promising that we can launch on or near 2/7 and have a full mission.”

These two options pertained to a redesign of the original ammonia lines via a double braid or the welding together of smaller, spare hoses identified at the Kennedy Space Center.

These two options were identified early in the process as being the preferable options since they preserved – at least initially – the ability to launch in the February window. However, NASA refused to allow these two paths to usurp other potential options – demonstrating a firm commitment to finding the best possible solution to the issue and simply letting the launch schedule fall where it would.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

By January 18th, both hose options were being pursued, with the welding together of spare hoses at the Kennedy Space Center being the preferred option. Under the mid-January schedule, the newly welded hoses carried an estimated delivery date of February 2 – a delivery date that would allow for a February 7 launch attempt.

Over the next 10 days, work proceeded along those fronts and, as a result of the amazing and inspiring work across the agency from thousands of dedicated engineers and managers, NASA officially and unanimously cleared Endeavour for launch on February 7 at the January 27 SOMD FRR (Space Operations Mission Directorate Flight Readiness Review) – an amazing turnaround from an issue which initially threatened any chance of launching Endeavour on time.

Moreover, the Agency FRR for STS-130 also brought to fruition the year-long investigation into the Flow Control Valve (FCV) poppet cracks discovered after the November 2008 flight Endeavour/STS-126.

The year-long investigation yielded six recommendations to the Space Shuttle Program, the first of which was an official closure to the investigation with “ground flow induced damage as the most likely source of crack initiation.”

The second recommendation advised the continued use of flight rationale based on NDE (Non-Destructive Evaluation) inspections and hardware observations (eddy current, Materials Laboratory review, MPI, and SEM). The third recommendation was to maintain “evaluation of the vast acoustic emission data that has yet to be analyzed.”

The fourth recommendation, specifically targeted for STS-130, advised for the “emphasized attention” to Endeavour’s LV-57 position FCV. “This particular position is the only one of the 1301 family of poppets to exhibit considerable crack growth consecutively (STS-126 failure, and STS-127 zone 3 crack development to .22 inch flaw).”

The final two recommendations pertained to the ground processing side of the FCVs.

Recommendation #5 advocated the implementation of a redesign of the outlet tube housing for the GH2 and GN2 ground testing model in order to remove numerous acoustic frequencies to the noise level and demonstrate the effectiveness of Acoustic Environment sensors.

The final recommendation was to remove or reduce the full stroke shimmed flow balance test, and/or implement effective GH2 and GN2 ground testing controls to “improve repeatability and reduce runtimes.”

However, the final push toward the 24th and penultimate flight of Endeavour would not be as smooth sailing as some would have hoped, with a burst FIREX pipe causing Launch Control Center (LCC) water damage, the announcement of the cancellation of the Constellation Program by President Obama (and the creation of an even more uncertain plan for NASA’s future), and weather all playing key roles in the final days of the STS-130 launch campaign.

On Thursday, January 28th at 2025 EST “the LCC experienced a FIREX pipe burst that flooded multiple floors,” noted the January 29 NTD (NASA Test Director) morning update. The burst pipe resulted in the closure of the Firing Room to be used just days later for Endeavour’s launch.

Thankfully, the damage from the pipe burst was not serious and all wiring and console systems necessary for launch operations were not damaged thanks to thorough weather proofing already in place and a quick response from LCC personnel to cover all equipment to prevent any damage from water dripping onto the console from the floors above.

In the end, the LCC flooding did not impact STS-130 S0007 operations and Endeavour’s 3-day countdown began right on time.

As attention shifted more and more toward launch and the actual mission, Shuttle Flight Director Kwatsi Alibaruho rallied his teams with an Admiral Bill Adama (Battlestar Galactica) style address, stating that “I know many of us have watched with great interest as the President’s 2011 budget proposal was unveiled.

“The President’s plan and direction for the Agency calls for a dramatic restructuring of the Constellation Program, including indefinite suspension of plans for returning humans to the moon, and an expansion of support for development of commercial interests in space and Earth Sciences interests.

“There will be much dialogue between the President and the Congress before a final direction is codified.

“Such redirection can be incredibly challenging; however, it is especially difficult for many since we are at the beginning of what is to be the last year of the Space Shuttle Program. It is at these times that we are reminded that we are agents of the United States Government and servants of the Executive Branch. We are living in difficult times, and such times call for leadership.

“Leadership is not about making everyone happy, although it would be nice if one could. Real leadership is about setting a direction, developing a plan, leveraging resources, and making the difficult trades demanded by the difficult times.

“Please, do NOT be discouraged. This is not the end, by any means. All of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again. This is part of the natural process that is endemic to our special and enduring system of government. This is the nature of the process by which policy is made.

“But we are not policy makers. We are executors and stewards of a unique trust. History will barely remember the underlying fiscal and political factors that drove this policy and the subsequent direction for NASA, but what history will record in bold letters is how we perform.”

With everything in place, the stage was set for a spectacular night time launch of Endeavour. As the countdown proceeded, Endeavour behaved extraordinarily well on the pad (a testament to the hard work of her processing teams), allowing launch personnel more than enough time to analyze a few (very few) minor issues that cropped up during the count.

But in the end, it would come down to the weather. While official forecasts in the days leading up to the February 7 attempt called for an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions, it would be the slight possibility of low clouds that would eventually force a scrub at the T-9mins and holding mark.

But this call proved slightly more dynamic than other recent weather scrubs, with a fascinating on-net discussion of the weather rules and whether or not the cloud cover hanging over the Kennedy Space Center was acceptable in the event of an RTLS (Return To Launch Site) abort or not.

As discussed in the post-launch press conference of February 8, Mike Moses explained that “Our Flight Rules cover what we need for RTLS in terms of ceiling and visibility. [The cloud ceiling] limit is 5,000ft for RTLS and the Range rules for visibility sit at about 4,000ft depending on thickness of clouds.

“Basically, we’ve always had this slight disconnect about what the Range would be go for and what RTLS landing would be go for. And they’re off by about a 1,000ft. Over the years, we’ve learned to constantly evaluate that if you have a condition that is acceptable for the Range but not RTLS, what does it take to be acceptable [across the board].

“Each of the pilots practice various visibility runs. They learn what they need to have to be comfortable: what would be good [and] what would be bad. Really, you’re looking for a [cloud] deck that allows you to gain the horizon as you’re rolling around the HAC (Heading Alignment Circle) so you understand clearly where you’re at.

“Last night we had that in the fact that there was nothing above that [cloud] deck. So clear skies up to that point (about 3,800ft).

“Then you look at the thickness of [the cloud deck] as you go through it. So you’ve got a good reference point, you know where you’re coming through, you punch through the ceiling really fast so you know you’re on your approach path. And once you get through it’s clear on down [the runway].

“The other big factor is what the wind’s doing from about 10,000ft on down and the work load that that then drives for the pilot. If all he has to do is pay attention to that glides slope as he comes in, that’s a little more acceptable. So we send the STA (Shuttle Training Aircraft) up there to fly that path and characterize that for us. So we send the STA up there with an astronaut to go fly that approach and go see what it really is compared to what our weather data is telling us.

“So what we were talking about yesterday was: could we get comfortable with the fact that, even though we were a little bit lower than our limits, we could still have good [conditions for RTLS]. And we were debating back and forth as to how comfortable we really were there. And we just didn’t get there on that yesterday.”

Despite this on-net discussion, weather was never “go” for launch during the T-9min hold and Launch Director Mike Leinbach made the correct call that even with potential weather waivers (of which none were being discussed) the weather would have been unacceptable from a flight safety standpoint.

Recycling for a 24hr turnaround, teams configured for a second launch attempt for Endeavour on the morning of February 8. This time, it would be the TAL (Trans-oceanic Abort Landing) sites in Europe that would pose an issue in terms of weather.

Thanks to real-time weather reconnaissance, however, one TAL site was declared “go” and at 04:14:08 EST, Endeavour lit up the partly-cloudy and cold night sky of Florida, thundering away from the Kennedy Space Center to begin STS-130 – the first of what would be three Space Shuttle missions in 2010.

In all, Endeavour reached orbit unscathed thanks to a superb job from the External Tank teams in preparing Endeavour’s tank for flight. TPS (Thermal Protection System) inspection data revealed NO (0 – ZERO) underbelly TPS scuffs or damage zones – a first and so far only occurrence in the Space Shuttle Program.

In fact, there were only 3 areas of TPS concern across the entire vehicle, a milestone that creates a highly visible accomplishment of all those across NASA who dedicated themselves to the reduction/elimination of damaging ET foam liberation from the tank during ascent.

The extremely clean nature of Endeavour’s TPS allowed all those involved in the execution of the mission to focus on the mission’s objectives – the delivery and installation of Node-3 and Cupola.

After successfully installing Node-3 and configuring Cupola, the STS-130 crew had the honor of opening up Cupola’s window covers for the first time and taking in the breath-taking 360 degree view of Earth from ~200miles above the planet’s surface.

After 13 days 18 hours 8 minutes and 3 seconds in space, Endeavour Commander George Zamka and Pilot Terry Virts fired Endeavour’s OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) engines for 2minutes 38seconds, dropping Endeavour to suborbital speed.

Earth’s gravity pulled Endeavour into the atmosphere where friction between Endeavour and her contact with atmosphere created a stream of plasma around and behind the orbiter – an event imaged by crewmembers aboard the International Space Station from the newly installed Cupola.

Endeavour glided to a dark landing at the Kennedy Space Center at 22:22:10 EST on February 22 to cap off the first NASA flight of 2010.

STS-131: The Challenges of Launch Processing and the Rewards of Orbital Success:

With weather playing a significant role in the rollout, pad processing, launch, and landing of Space Shuttle Endeavour/STS-130, weather would again prove troublesome during early launch processing ops for STS-131/Discovery.

Initially targeting launch on March 18, NASA managers pushed back the mission’s targeted launch date due to Dual Docked Ops (DDO) constraints with the departing and arriving Russian Soyuz spacecraft for ISS crew rotation.

While Discovery would have initially been able to meet the March 18 launch date, the decision to delay launch due to DDO constraints proved fruitful when unacceptably cold weather at the Kennedy Space Center prevented workers from rolling Discovery from her OPF (Orbiter Processing Facility) to the VAB for 10 days.

Technicians were forced to delay Discovery’s rollover to the VAB from the OPF due to a requirement that temperatures in the VAB not drop below 45 degrees for more than 12 hours at the time of rollover and in the initial days of mating ops. This rule is in place to protect a Shuttle orbiter’s OMS and RCS (Reaction Control System) systems from potential cold weather damage since those systems cannot be hooked up to heating and purged air for rollover and mate.

STS-131 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-131/

The long delay to rollover ops would have eliminated March 18 as a launch opportunity for Discovery/STS-131, thus making the delay to April 5 from a DDO perspective a fortunate coincidence as it restored over 7 days of contingency time to the STS-131 pad flow.

After 8 days in the VAB, Discovery rolled out to launch pad 39A on March 2 at 23:58 EST – one day later than planned due to thunderstorms in the vicinity on March 1/2. Discovery arrived at Pad-A at 0649 EST March 3 and technicians began processing the vehicle for launch.

While processing initially went smoothly for Discovery, a visible RCS hydrazine leak occurred during the multi-day OMS/RCS fueling operations. As noted by the daily NTD reports, “Leak: RCS Helium Iso Valve on the right pod for the fuel system.” This meant that the Iso valve was stuck in the “open” configuration.

During RCS thruster operations, the correct flow of helium is essential for providing the proper flow path of oxidizer from the propellant tanks into the combustion chamber of the thrusters, allowing them to carry out their function of aiding the orbiter’s maneuvering on orbit.

While replacing the valve would have solved the issue, replacement could not have been performed at the launch pad. Instead, Discovery would have had to have been rolled back to the VAB, destacked, returned to the OPF, her right OMS pod removed, and the Right OMS Pod from Endeavour donated to Discovery for STS-131.

Since that would have induced a multi-month delay to the mission, NASA looked for other, less intrusive solutions for the issue.

The two less intrusive options developed were a “blowdown” procedure to blow helium through the system for a period of time and then cycle the helium valves to purge any contaminants that could have been causing the valve in question to remain in the open position.

The second option would be to simply accept the condition “as is” via flight rationale and fly the mission as planned thanks to built-in redundancy and on-orbit flight experience with a stuck open and stuck closed Helium Iso valve.

In the end, even though root cause of the issue could not be identified, flight rationale was accepted and the decision made to fly “as is.”

But this would not be the only technical issue to plague pad workers during the month of March. Shortly after Discovery’s arrival at Pad-A, Pulse Code Modulator Master Unit (PCMMU) 1 on Discovery experienced a “momentary failure” on March 5, kicking off a round of troubleshooting and engineering evaluations.

The PCMMU “routes the orbiter data to the OPS recorders and the communications systems for downlink to the MCC (Mission Control Center),” notes a Data Processing System (DPS) Familiarization Workbook (L2).

According to the STS-131 Space Shuttle Program (SSP) FRR summary (available on L2), “On March 5th, the four GPCs (General Purpose Computers) running in the redundant set all logged an I/O (input/output) error. Reviewed the data and saw that the PCMMU and several OI MDMs (Multiplexer Demultiplexers) had logged data validity errors.”

Following the March 5 failure, a second failure occurred the following day with a third failure occurring on March 9. “The GPCs responded nominally so the focus is now on the instrumentation buses,” notes the 131 SSP FRR summary.

In the end, no anomalies could be identified on PCMMU 1 and the engineering community recommended switching to and launching on PCMMU 2 without the replacement of PCMMU 1 – which operated nominally after the three previous issues on March 5, 6 and 9.

On March 26, the SOMD FRR unanimously approved launch of Discovery for April 5, and the three day countdown began in the early morning hours of April 2 and proceeded without major issue.

On the morning of April 5, 15-minutes before the targeted liftoff, the International Space Station flew almost directly over the Kennedy Space Center and Space Shuttle Discovery/STS-131, bisecting the moon as viewed from the KSC press site.

Fifteen minutes later, at 06:21:22 EDT (49 minutes before sunrise and with a light glow on the horizon), Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Pad-A, a light layer of fog creating the presence of a halo-like glow around Discovery as she headed toward space.

With sunlight barely breaking across Earth’s horizon as seen from Discovery’s ET camera, Discovery slipped into orbit after what was arguably the most visibly impressive launch of the Shuttle Program.

Following SRB separation, high altitude sunlight refracted from the water vapor contrail created by Discovery’s three main engines, creating a visible second stage contrail.

Furthermore, the SRB contrail, drifting into the upper atmosphere, formed a shape remarkably similar to that of a dragon. When this contrail caught the pre-sunrise light, it turned an impressive shade of orange and red – a natural tribute to Japanese astronaut Naoko Yamazaki who launched onboard Discovery.

Once in orbit, Discovery’s crew quickly realized that the orbiter’s Ku-Band antenna – the primary communication’s antenna on the vehicle – was experiencing an issue following several failed self-tests. These tests are conducted automatically by the Ku-Band antenna upon activation and deployment on orbit.

Commands to power cycle the two black boxes on the hardware failed to correct the problem. Thus, the Ku-band antenna was inoperative in both the forward and return link configurations, which prevented high bandwidth download and upload between the ground the Discovery.

Nonetheless, all TPS inspections were performed nominally with some information downlinked via the S-Band antenna during passage over the continental US.

The remaining data was downlinked following docking to the ISS when Discovery’s crew could make use of the Station’s Ku-Band antenna for the duration of the docked mission.

Like Endeavour and the previous mission, Discovery’s TPS was found to be in excellent condition with only a Rudder Speed Brake tile partial liberation gaining the bulk of the Debris Assessment Team’s attention.

However, the failure of Discovery’s Ku-Band antenna led NASA to extend the mission and move the customary TPS late-inspection into the docked portion of the flight – a procedure which had been accomplished before on STS-123 in March 2008.

This was done to ensure that all scan imagery could be transmitted to the ground and analyzed in a timely manner prior to reentry.

With the docked late-inspection in place, Discovery undocked from the ISS for a targeted April 19th landing. However, poor weather at the Kennedy Space Center forced a wave-off of the landing to the following day.

After 6.23 million miles, Discovery reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the North American continent on April 20, performing the second – and to date last – descending node reentry over the heartland of America in the post-Columbia era.

After 15days 2hours 47minutes and 11seconds in flight, Discovery came to a stop on Runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center. With this mission duration, STS-131 became Discovery’s longest flight, beating out STS-120′s mission duration by a mere 23 minutes.

The STS-131 flight of Discovery also marked the final Space Shuttle mission with a seven member crew, the final Space Shuttle mission to carry a rookie astronaut to orbit, and the first time that four women worked together in space (three on Discovery and one on the Space Station), and the first time that two Japanese astronauts worked together in space (one on Discovery and one on the ISS).

The flight was the 18th post-Columbia flight, the 33rd flight of the Space Shuttle to the ISS, the 35th American manned night launch (of which 34 have been by the Space Shuttle and 22 of which have occurred from Pad-A), the 38th and penultimate voyage of Discovery, the 106th post-Challenger flight, and the 162nd American manned spaceflight.

(Part 2 of NASASpaceflight.com’s 3-part 2010 Year in Review series will be published December 31.)
(Images via L2, Larry Sullivan: MaxQ Entertainment, NASA.gov)

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STS-130/STS-134 Latest:

Endeavour remains in S0069 (Integrated roll-in operations) inside her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF-2), as safing and post-flight shakedown work continues after her successful STS-130 mission.

“Jack and level is complete. Fuel cells were powered down yesterday and the vehicle is on ground power. Controlled venting through the T-0 remains in work; fuel cell cryo tank drain should pick up shortly,” noted Tuesday processing information on L2, via the NASA Test Director (NTD).

“OMS/RCS (Orbital Maneuvering System/Reaction Control System) post-mission safing is scheduled for tonight. The ET umbilical doors will be opened tonight.”

Technically into her STS-134 flow – currently her final mission – Endeavour will be hoping to go out in style, mirroring her extremely low Interim Problem Report (IPR) count as enjoyed during STS-130′s flow. However, she has already been charged with five IPRs, all minor issues.

“New IPR-0003, a payload bay door centerline latch 13-16 limit switch is off, should be on. Engineering evaluating,” added the NTD report.

“New IPR-0004, an inadvertent switch throw on panel A1L (by an engineer). The encryption power switch was taken to the off position causing loss of encryption memory and the ability to uplink voice on Air-to-Ground 1 and 2. The switch was re-positioned and all systems are performing nominally.

“New IPR-0005, generated to document O2 GSE (Ground Support Equipment) being found unpressurized. Two valves were found out of configuration; system was purged to remove moisture and subsequent samples were good.”

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

Post Landing TPS Report:

As expected, Endeavour return to Earth with zero concerns relating to her TPS, thanks to the work of the DAT engineers who had evaluated ascent footage, Flight Day 2 and 3 imagery and Late Inspection data.

With only a handful of areas requiring some level of evaluation, the clearance for Endeavour’s entry was given within a short period of time at each stage of the mission (No Focused Inspection, cleared for entry peer review, Late Inspection clearance).

These results were backed up by the condition of the orbiter once on the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway, which found nothing more than “dings” – some of which can be caused by the orbiter’s rollout after the wheels hit the tarmac.

“Chin panel area inspection occurred at approximately 22:45 EST (Sunday). Total downgrade and TPS access occurred at approximately 23:15 EST. Overall vehicle looked very good,” noted a TPS evaluation report, available on L2.

“There were 45 total damages on the lower surface, with 7 tiles damages with debris hit greater than 1 inch any dimension. There were no tiles with missing putty repairs noted. There were no protruding gap fillers noted.

The orbiter is reviewed via three main areas during the initial TPS checks, the Forward, Middle and Aft sections – with any items of interest logged into the report.

“(Forward): Chin panel -441 gap filler appeared nominal. The gap filler occupied the center of the gap, as it has for the last several flights of OV-105 (Endeavour). The gap at the time of access (22:45 EST) was approximately 0.21 inch at the center line,” added the report.

“The left hand side gap measurement was 0.22 inch, and the right hand measurement was 0.28 inch. (photo 2) Gap filler fabric integrity was sound with no breaches or frays noted.

“The forward NLGD thermal barriers along the chin panel were breached and severely debonded. Minor flow paths/deposits were observed from OML to IML near the aft on the right hand side.”

“The cracked tile corner on the forward canopy [Tile Number V070-391143-037] appeared to be present upon landing, however the view was limited. The left hand aft corner NLGD BRI-18 tile [V070-391044-174] was missing the aft outboard corner: 0.75 x 0.75 inch.

“The arrowhead blanket sleeving did not have any protrusions. Fiducial marks were observed on the RCC nose cap; however, the Sharpie touchup (as mandated by V09AJ0.013) is necessary to ensure on orbit visibility next flight.”

Several references are made to the landing gear door thermal barriers, but these areas are routinely found to be in such a condition, and are only the first line of defence from the extreme temperatures of re-entry.

“Middle: Left hand forward thermal barrier on the LH M (Main) LGD was torn and frayed; less than 2 inches in length. Minor frays were also noted on the aft LH MLGD and RH MLGD forward and aft barriers. All other MLGD thermal barriers appeared nominal.

“The flipper door side seal [Tile number V070-198707-005] on the upper LH outboard elevon which was seen bend upward on-orbit appeared to be in the same condition upon landing.

“Aft: ET door thermal barriers were intact and appeared nominal. There were a few broken stitches on the RH ET (External Tank) door between the forward and outboard barriers. An average amount of ET baggy material remained around the doors. ET door Paint stripes showed typical degradation.

“Engine 3 dome heat shield blanket had approximately 2 feet of frayed fabric in the upper inboard area. The typical peppering of aft base heat shield was noted. An aft tile on the LH rudder speed brake, right above the split-line thermal barrier was cracked [V070-292004-093].”

The Window 2 Insert:

Only three areas interested the DAT engineers whilst Endeavour was on orbit. One area, a ceramic insert on the flight deck’s Window 2, was observed as protruding via Flight Day 3 RPM imagery requiring a high level of analysis.

Engineers worked on clearing this area by carrying out ground tests based around the insert liberating and striking either an OMS Pod, Endeavour’s tail, or even the window itself.

“Because of impactor geometry and density, actuator rib failure is deemed the critical location for this impact scenario. Prior mission assessments involved impactors with a larger area footprint,” noted DAT’s complex and in-depth transport data on the potential the insert could hit the Rudder Speed Brake (RSB), as seen on one of several DAT presentations for STS-130 – available on L2.

“LS-DYNA (tool) was utilized to predict impact damage onto the rudder speed brake actuator ribs by the ceramic plug and insert release during descent. Minor permanent deformation predicted for typical and worst-case DTA impact conditions, confined to local impact areas. No factors of safety are applied to the analysis. Results are considered nominal.

“Sensitivity assessment showed that threshold for damaging impact is 2x the max kinetic energy provided by the DTA. Worst case predicted damage will not affect actuator rib capability. Actuator ribs occupy only 2.65 percent of the RSB surface area.”

These findings earned confidence that even if the insert liberated at the worst time of the descent through the atmosphere, the insert was half the mass of that which was capable of causing some damage to the tail – even if it managed to hit the area of the RSB – only three percent of the surface area – that was close to a critical system in the tail.

“Ceramic insert impacts on RSB acreage could cause panel penetration but the damage area is expected to be relatively small because of impactor geometry and density,” the findings continued.

“Ceramic insert impacts on leading edge of vertical tail could cause some damage but no critical failure mode to the leading edge spar of the vertical tail.

“Expect energy dissipation due to leading edge tiles as well as full-depth honeycomb fairing would reduce impactor velocity and is expect to cause breakup of ceramic insert.

“Forward spar would not be sensitive to damage due to fractured ceramic insert with reduced velocity.”

Engineers worked the data with real tests – as seen on a series of videos (L2) that showed inserts being dropped on to spare orbiter window on the ground – another area of interest had the insert liberated – which resulted in them breaking apart, despite the low velocity.

“Window (engineers) assessment based on insert liberation during entry: Thermal pane protects for descent temperatures which subside around Mach 8. Pane must remain intact (no breach) through heating phase. Impact velocities increase as Mach decreases. JSC drop test confirms no potential for thermal pane breach,” added the DAT presentation – which dedicated around 30 pages to the transport data.

“Mach 6 max. impact velocity around 34fps at 2.6 degrees angle (11fps at 6.8 degrees). Highest impact velocity (106fps at <2 deg) occurs around Mach 0.6. Tested conditions envelope Mach 6 and Mach 5 cases velocity around 20-34 ft/sec, at 10-44 degrees (conservative).

“Measurable defect depths (without dispersion) do not exceed cert criteria allowable. Show potential for exceeding maximum allowable with application of dispersions. At lower Mach (<2.5), burst loads could propagate a flaw (negative margins on the pane).”

Again, as noted, no problem was found with the test results – as expected with the potential to damage a window, due to the inserts close location to the panes. However, this goes to show just how much work goes on behind the scenes during a mission, as DAT clear an orbiter for entry.

“Rationale: If an impact occurs, burst loads may induce flaw growth (cracking to edge of pane). Previous impact test experience: cracked glass remains captured (no breach, no liberation). No risk to redundant pane, minimal effect to side window visibility. Recommendation: Acceptable entry risk, pane fracture unlikely and not catastrophic.”

Interestingly, managers were already briefed on the slim chance the insert would liberate in the first place – and they were proven right, with post landing photography showing the insert remained in exactly the same position and level of protrusion as seen via on orbit imagery.

“The protruding ceramic insert on Window 2 carrier panel that was seen on-obit was still present upon landing and looked to be in the same condition,” confirmed the post-landing TPS report.

Interestingly, the presentation shows such a protrusion has been seen before, even prior to the vast improvement to on orbit imagery that allows engineers on the ground to view the health of the orbiter’s TPS. STS-102 and STS-108 are both shown as examples of previous protrusions, and on both occasions they remained in place all the way to landing.

The shuttle’s history often provides priceless flight data for the vehicles, which will be lost completely when NASA moves to a new vehicle – whatever vehicle that may be.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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STS-134 Processing Latest:

Endeavour is technically into STS-134 processing, although the coming weeks will concentrate on safing the vehicle, along with work on what is described as only a few minor dings to her Thermal Protection System (TPS). The current flow is known as “OPF Integrated roll-in ops”.

At least three windows are expected to be replaced, following the MMOD (Micro-Meteoroid Orbital Debris) events on orbit – although several windows are usually changed-out as a matter of course for a post-flight flow.

Engineers have only a few additional items to check as a result of Endeavour’s performance on STS-130, such as Fuel Cell 2′s instrumentation – which required a workaround after failing a self-test after undocking. All three Fuel Cells performed nominally during the mission – as did all of the orbiter’s systems, leading to high praise from the crew after departing the vehicle at the SLF.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

“STS-130 is complete, we’re safe on deck here at KSC, thanks to the work of a lot of people. Endeavour, my goodness, what a machine, she was perfect during the flight and we brought her back safe,” noted STS-130 Commander George Zamka, shortly after landing.

STS-134 will be the 133rd flight of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) and the 25th and final voyage of the orbiter Endeavour, which began service in May 1992 on STS-49.

Carrying an ISS mission designation of ULF-6 (Utilization and Logistics Flight 6), STS-134 was officially baselined into the Flight Definition and Requirements Document (FDRD) on June 25, 2009 (several mission baselines available on L2) – initiating production of flight processes to support a No Earlier Than launch date of July 29, 2010.

AMS-02 – weighing 15,300lbs – will have four longeron payload latches and one active keel latch for its attachment to the payload bay sidewalls of Endeavour. Additionally, once on orbit, Remotely Operated Electrical Umbilicals (ROEU) will provide AMS-02 with 124V of power for its heaters and avionics. Prior to liftoff, this power will be provided via the T0 umbilicals on the launch pad.

These T0 umbilicals will also allow launch personnel to monitor the health of AMS-02 prior to liftoff and make sure that Launch Commit Criteria for the AMS-02 are not breached.

The AMS-02 unit, which was without a ride to orbit until the United States Congress mandated its addition to the Shuttle manifest, will be attached to the Starboard 3 Upper Inboard Command Attach System (CAS) on the ISS.

The AMS-02 unit is a “particle physics detector” which contains a large, cryogenic super-fluid helium superconducting magnet. The AMS-02 unit is designed to “search for antimatter and the origin and structure of dark matter.”

As noted in the main PRCB (Program Requirements Control Board) baseline presentation, AMS-02 is a complex payload that will require significant testing and payload processing before liftoff, and thus is the main “long lead” item for making the launch date.

Currently, the payload is expected to ship to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in May, pending extensive thermal vac testing. Concerns about the testing timeline were noted on PRCB documentation last year.

Making up the rest of the total payload mass of 36,740lbs is ELC-3, which will be carrying an Ammonia Tank Assembly, a Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator Arm with Orbital Replacement Unit change-out mechanism, a spare ELC pallet controller avionics box, S-Band Antenna Sub-System #2 & 3, High Pressure Gas Tanks, and Space Test Program Houston 3 Department of Defense payload.

In addition to this manifested and baselined payload on ELC-3, the ISS program is looking at an additional 1,481lbs of payload that they would like on ELC-3 – payloads that are currently not listed on the mission baseline or accounted for in the mission’s up-mass weight – as the program attempts to get as much upmass to the ISS as possible prior to shuttle retirement.

Outside of OPF-2, work is already taking place on the boosters that will fly with Endeavour, as engineers ‘build up” the left Solid Rocket Booster segments prior to stacking.

“BI-144 / RSRM 112 Left Aft Booster build-up: Splice plate RT-455 application is complete and in cure. ETA Ring Pull Test and PDL Repair; Insta foam application failed pull test (Fwd side of ETA ring),” noted Monday processing information on L2. “Insta foam pull test is scheduled for 2nd shift tonight.

“Systems tunnel cable installation is in work. Aft IEA Installation; Task is on hold for acceptable Insta foam pull test. Strut Installation; Task is on hold for acceptable Insta foam pull test. Left Forward Center segment: Offload is scheduled for today.”

STS-131 Processing Latest:

Discovery was expected to rollover on Tuesday, following an official delay over the weekend, which was again confirmed by the NASA Test Director (NTD) on Monday morning.

“Orbiter: OV-103 (OPF Bay 3): Rollover to the VAB is planned for Tuesday at 0600 hrs. The orbiter is expected to be spotted in the VAB at 0800. S0008 Shuttle Interface Test Call-to-Stations is planned for 1700 on Friday.”

However, thanks to the smooth return of Endeavour to OPF-2, managers decided to push rollover back to Monday at short notice, with the process carried out before midday – as Discovery rode on the transporter  in the overcast conditions.

The rollover was also observed by the STS-131 crew, who took time to thank Discovery’s engineers for their work on the orbiter during the flow so far.

Discovery will deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) via the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) Leonardo and the Light-weight Multipurpose Experiment Support Structure Carrier (LMC).

Secured inside the MPLM will be Zero-G stowage racks, an EXPRESS rack, a Muscle Atrophy Resistive Exercise (MARES) unit, a Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), one Crew Quarters Rack, a Minus 80 deg Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI), Resupply Stowage Racks (RSRs), as well as Resupply Stowage Platforms (RSPs).

The launch date was delayed from March to April 5, due to a DDO (Dual Docked Operations) constraint relating to Soyuz TMA-18′s April 4 docking to the ISS. Discovery herself would have been able to support the original launch date, meaning she has been sat in OPF-3, waiting patiently for Monday’s rollover.

With over one week of contingency existing in the flow due to the launch date slip, engineers have also taken the opportunity to carry out additional plug pull tests on additional areas of Discovery’s External Tank (ET-135), following recent liberations from the intertank region during ascent.

That work has been completed ahead of Orbiter/ET mate inside the VAB’s High Bay 3 (HB-3), with the additional scaffolding now removed from around the tank.

“ET-135/SRB BI-142 / RSRM 110 (VAB HB-3): Left Tunnel Cover Closeouts; Need to paint after Orbiter Mate. Engineering walk down to be worked after Orbiter Mate. L/R FN #8 Cover RT-455/Instafoam application; L/R Insta-Foam applied Friday.

“ET-135-TS-009. Intertank Plug Pulls completed Friday, scaffolding removed, platform E and B retracted Friday night. Umbilical Cover Plate removal ready to work. Retract D platform after plates are removed.”

All three orbiters now find themselves in busy flows, with Atlantis also undergoing the milestone of SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) installation, which has already started inside OPF-1.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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STS-130 Landing Status during Sunday:

A total of four landing opportunities were available for Endeavour on Sunday, two at her home port of KSC and two in California.

The weather situation was dynamic, meaning Entry Flight Director Norm Knight left it until late in the deorbit timeline before deciding to take the opening opportunity – against the odds.

For the opening opportunity, Mr Knight made his call around 8:50pm Eastern, 25 minutes prior to TIG (Time Of Ignition) for Endeavour’s twin OMS engines for the 2 minute 38 second burn that led to the orbiter starting her return home. Taking the opening opportunity resulted in a successful landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at 10:20pm Eastern.

A second KSC opportunity existed for Endeavour, which would have resulted in a landing at 11:55pm Eastern, prior to two Edwards opportunities – with the opening Californian option – now not taken – resulting in a landing at 1:25am Eastern, and a second one orbit later.

Edwards is home to the US Air Force’s 412th Test Wing and is currently operated by the 95th Air Base Wing. The base is strategically situated next to Rogers Lake, an endorheic desert salt pan, and is the home to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC).

Had Endeavour targetted Edwards, she would have to land on the “new” 12,000 x 200 ft runway – which is shorter and narrower, and runs parallel to the main runway (15,000 X 300 ft). The temporary use of the new, smaller runway was previously required for around three flights in 2008 – while the primary runway was under repair.

Though 3,000 feet shorter than the primary runway, an orbiter will still have lots of margins for her rollout. However, as a precaution, engineers – back in 2008 – looked into the design upper limits on the amount of heat reacted in the carbon-carbon brakes, should there be a problem with the brakes during rollout. All were deemed acceptable.

Had unacceptable weather conditions wave-off Endeavour’s return to Monday, KSC, Edwards and White Sands would have been made available.

Monday was classed as “pick-em” day, with Endeavour expected to return home to one of the sites. EOM+2 (End Of Mission plus two days – Tuesday) was only reserved for a technical wave-off, based on requiring additional time to correct a unlikely issue with the orbiter.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

“There will be no more scheduled MMT (Mission Management Team) meetings for the remainder of the mission. Weather is uncertain at KSC and EDW for EOM and EOM+1,” noted the final MMT status update, available via L2 – which also noted the potential to use a “Descending Node” entry option, which would earn an additional landing opportunity at KSC.

“Current forecast is NO-GO at KSC and EDW for EOM and EOM+1, but could get better. Weather good at EOM+2 for all sites. Debating trade-offs between doing a Descending Node Entry to gain another KSC opportunity, vs prop availability and potential contingencies.”

Despite unfavorable weather forecasts all the way through Sunday, Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA) pilot Chris Ferguson noted the situation was “workable” – leading to Mr Knight making the call to take the first landing opportunity – which proved to be correct as Endeavour returned to KSC without an issue.

STS-130 Status:

Although MMOD (Micro-Meteoroid Orbital Debris) strike are not uncommon, Endeavour has now suffered from three impacts – the latest on Window 1.

“MER (Mission Evaluation Room) List Items: MER-10 Window MMOD Impacts – Added Window 1 impact. No concern for entry,” noted EOM status via L2.

As with the impact to the side hatch window, and window 2 on the flight deck, engineers on the ground have cleared all three for entry, as have the DAT (Damage Assessment Team) – who’s team of engineers found no items of concern via the Late Inspection results – once again showing Endeavour has enjoyed an extremely clean mission.

All three damage sites will be evaluated once Endeavour is safely back in her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), with the replacement of windows almost routine for a post flight processing flow.

As has been the case throughout the mission, all of Endeavour’s systems are operating within spec – with only a handful of minor “funnies” – a MER classification for a minor problem that hasn’t been advanced to the status of an IFA (In Flight Anomaly).

Fuel Cell 2:

With a large number of funnies not even relating to the orbiter herself, the 11th note on the MER list referred to Fuel Cell 2, which failed a self-test after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS).

“MER-11 FC2 Substack 3 CPM Intermittent Self-Test Fail. Data indicates a healthy fuel cell. All other systems operating nominally,” noted MER information, which was expanded on via MMT documentation (L2).

“Problem Description: During Cell Performance Monitor Self Test at 011/18:30:39 MET(051/03:44:46 GMT) Fuel Cell (FC) 2 substack (SS) 3 Delta volts indication transitioned from a nominal value of ~24 mV to a an OSH value. At the next self test event (~6minutes, 44 seconds later) the substack delta volts measurement returned to a nominal value of ~24mV.

“An associated onboard SM alert message was annunciated at 011/18:30 MET. There were four additional occurrences with the last transition back to nominal data occurring at 011/19:57:39 MET (051/05:11:46). SM limit sensing for this parameter was inhibited onboard to prevent nuisance alarms.”

Per flight rules, controllers asked for a main bus B to C tie, to allow for monitoring of the Fuel Cell. This showed the FC was in good working order, with the issue relating to instrumentation. This configuration will remain the same until just prior to entry.

“Problem Impact/Significance: Problem: Intermittent loss of insight into FC2 SS3 delta volts measurement. Per Flight Rule A9-59 a main bus tie B to C was performed as a back up method to monitor relative FC performance. The bus tie will be broken prior to entry.

“Additionally the Flight Rule mandates a daily Fuel Cell Monitoring System (FCMS) data take. The first daily FCMS data take was performed at 051/04:53 GMT. Data indicates nominal FC performance. Significance: Instrumentation only. No impact to mission duration.

“Redundancy: Bus tie and Daily FCMS data takes. Concern is that if an individual cell were to develop a cross over condition it may not be quickly discernable. This concern is mitigated by the bus tie and daily FCMS data takes. Program experience is that the early stages of crossover are slow to develop. This Fuel Cell S/N 124 started the mission with zero hours on the stack and crossover.”

As noted by the history of Cell Performance Monitoring (CPM) issues, documentation notes this is not uncommon, and has not held any on-orbit impact.

“History / Previous Occurrences: Roughly 20 instances of CPM anomalies over the course of the program. Some of these were related to the self test function and resulted in CPM R&R. In all cases there was no impact to fuel cell life or performance.

“Current Status: CPM is currently outputting nominal readings. Post-Flight Plans: Post Flight Data Review. Possible troubleshooting. If required, the CPM can be changed without FC Removal and Replacement.”

FOD Liberation:

The only other item of interest that was evaluated – and cleared – by engineers on the ground, was the observation of a FOD (Foreign Object Debris) liberation from Endeavour’s payload bay – listed by the MER as “FOD Observation: FOD Out of Payload Bay. No vehicle concerns.”

While it has not yet been determined what the object is, engineers are confident the debris is not from a critical system required for Endeavour’s deorbit, entry and landing.

“Crew Notes: FOD observed moving in formation with the payload bay, not separating from the vehicle at a high rate,” added a specific MMT presentation on the event (available on L2). “Crewmembers noted that the object appeared to be small, having striations and reflective properties.”

It appears the liberation occurred shortly after the crew berthed the OBSS (Orbiter Boom Sensor System) and RMS (Remote Manipulator System) arms after the completion of Late Inspections.

“Timeline: OBSS Boom latched at 10:18 GMT. RMS pre-cradled at 10:54 GMT. First photo taken at 11:13 GMT. Camera Information. A 200mm lens was used with to capture the images. Camera focus distance was at 19.95 meters (65.5 feet).”

The object could be one of several possible items, ranging from a spring, to a piece of hosing used to house wiring in the orbiter’s payload bay.

“Object Measurements: Length: 1.3 inches (+/- .05 inches). Outer Diameter: .27 inches (+/- .05 inches). Potential Identification. Heli-coil or spring. Hollow piece of rubber or plastic tubing. Sheared-off bolt,” added the presentation.

Although the object was photographed near the Rudder Speed Brake (RSB), the item is known not to have originated from that location. Items have been lost from the RSB in recent years, related to tabs that are used primarily for holding the vertical stabilizer in a stable configuration during ascent.

This article will be updated during the landing opportunities.

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STS-130 Latest:

Flight Day 14 marked the first full day in orbit since departing from the International Space Station on Friday. Classed as End Of Mission minus one day (EOM-1), the crew have proceeded through numerous checks on the orbiter, ahead of the planned landing on Sunday evening.

“IMU Align, MCIU Ck, Filter Cleaning, Ergometer Stow, FCS C/O, RCS Hotfire, Deorbit Prep Brief, Entry Video Setup, L-1 Comm Checks, a FES Dump, SSV Deact, Pilot Ops, Entry Cooling Configuration, MADS is powered on, WLES is deactivated, the Ku-band is stowed, and Cabin Stow,” is the full list noted in FD-14 documentation.

Broken down, the key events carried out by the crew based mainly around the Flight Control Surfaces (FCS) checkouts (C/O) – a visible event as Endeavour’s elevons were rotated to their extremes – and powered by one of the orbiter’s Auxiliary Power Units (APU-1). All of Endeavour’s Reaction Control System (RCS) jets used during the return to Earth were also pulsed once to confirm their status.

No new issues – or any issues of note – are being worked by the Mission Evaluation Room (MER), with the Fuel Cell 2 indications – noted on FD-13 – related to instrumentation.

Landing on Sunday remains at the mercy of the weather, with the two landing opportunities at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) both threatening to be waved off due to the possibility of showers and unacceptable cloud cover.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

All three sites are likely to be called up – which included Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands in New Mexico – on Monday (EOM+1). EOM+2 will remain reserved as the wave off day for a technical issue,

TPS Clearance Overview:

In all, Endeavour enjoyed an extremely clean ride to orbit during her February 8th night launch from the Kennedy Space Center.

Following the FD-2 (Flight Day 2) OBSS (Orbiter Boom Sensor System) TPS (Thermal Protection System) scans/surveys of Endeavour’s upper flight surfaces, OMS pods, Crew Cabin, and Wing Leading Edge (RCC – Reinforced Carbon-Carbon) panels and FD-3′s stunning RPM (R-bar Pitch Maneuver) and orbiter photography by ISS crewmembers, imagery analysts on the ground have clear Endeavour’s TPS for landing.

In all, every area of Endeavour’s TPS was photographed/imaged during the opening three FDs of her mission. Stemming from these photos/images, there were no (0 – ZERO) identified underbelly TPS scuffs or damage zones on Endeavour.

Both ET (External Tank) doors were verified closed via ISS photography.

No ET door paint stripes were visible and all lighting and angles in relation to the Endeavour and ISS were acceptable for ISS photography.

In all, there were only three (3) areas of TPS concern across Endeavour’s entire TPS system – all of which are located on the upper portion of NASA’s youngest orbiter.

These three areas include a protruding ceramic insert/plug below Window #2, a cracked title “adjacent to (a) previous RTV (Room-Temperature Vulcanized) repair,” and a peeled back Inconel Seal between Flipper Doors on an elevon as evalauted by the Damage Assessment Team (DAT) - with all their STS-130 presentations available to download on L2.

Ceramic Insert:

In regard to the protruding ceramic insert, documentation shows that the tile – which is 0.57” thick – was installed onto Endeavour on June 11, 2006 during her last Orbiter Modification Down Period (OMDP).

The ceramic insert in question has an outer diameter of 0.938” and a height of 0.47” – 0.57” with a mass of 9-grams. The ceramic insert is protruding 0.37” +/- 0.05”

“DTA assessment completed for loose insert releases,” notes the final on-orbit TPS report via the DAT (L2). “Low angle impacts on windows up to 120 ft/sec. Only very low angle impacts to OMS Pod – No OMS Pod leading edge impacts.”

The presentation notes that impacts to the Rudder Speed Brake (RSB) are possible at higher velocities should the ceramic insert liberate during reentry.

In a worst case scenario, should the ceramic insert liberate, analyses show that no ‘detrimental’ damage would occur to the windows that would result in catastrophic failure.

“No detrimental damage that will result in catastrophic failure. Potential exists for glass fracture at low altitude.”

The worst case scenario for a RSB impact would be a damage area on the RSB of 12.5ft2 which – even at that stage – would still yield positive margins in terms of Entry GN&C (Guidance Navigation and Control) performance. These findings will be expanded on in Sunday’s article.

Cracked Cabin Tile:

For the cracked TPS tile on the top of Endeavour’s Crew Cabin, documentation shows the cracked tile was repaired in 2007 using a standard RTV repair technique.

The tile is 0.485” thick and was originally cracked 2.2” in length back in 2007.

“DTA assessment completed for cracked corner canopy tile release,” notes the TPS report.

Should the cracked piece of tile liberate during reentry, a 120ft-lb normal kinetic energy impact would be required to produce significant structural to the OMS pods and RSB.

“120ft-lb is a mean value that has no uncertainties associated based on AFRSI impacts on OMS Pod structure.”

Based on the liberation properties of the cracked tile piece, the maximum predicted OMS pod kinetic impact is 72ft-lb and 30ft-lb for the RSB – well below the energy required to cause damage.

Protruding Inconel Strip:

The final TPS anomaly for Endeavour relates to the lifted elevon flipper door sliding seal.

“Left hand outboard elevon flipper door sliding seal between doors #12 and #13 is deformed resulting in a 2.6” high x 3” wide protuberance and 0.5” wide by 1.7” long leak path into the elevon cove.”

The seal in question is “bent up” the full length of seal.

The presentation notes that similar conditions have been noted on previous flights of orbiter Atlantis, flights 10 and 11 specifically.

“Similar condition noted on previous flights: OV-104 Flight 11 – RH side between doors #1 and #2. OV-104 Flight 10 – RH side between doors #5 and #6.

The presentation notes that multiple Problem Reports have been taken on the flipper door seals throughout the near 29-year history of the Shuttle Program.

A rework of the system was attempted but the primary concern could not be eliminated.

The cause of the flipper door damage on Endeavour has been identified as “flight damage” occurring approximately 48-seconds into Endeavour’s launch during a potential debris impact near that area of the vehicle.

In all, the elevons’ full range of motion is 21.5 degrees down and 36.5 degrees up. The elevons are positioned at “full down” during rollover ops to the VAB and are returned to the null position during mating ops to the ET.

Prior to liftoff, the elevons are tested by moving them 10 degrees up and 11 degrees down. Ascent data from Endeavour, indicated that the elevons traveled between 7 degrees up to 11 degrees down during her launch.

During Endeavour’s Flight Control System checkout today, the elevons were be cycled 18 degrees down 32 degrees up.

Reentry, descent, and landing elevon predictions for Endeavour show a “7.5 degree down deflection late in the entry profile.”

There are no thermal concerns for entry from this damage site as the flipper seal experience approximately double the heating rate during ascent than descent.

Related posts:

1. Endeavour and her SCA piggyback ride arrive in Louisiana, via JSC flyoverThe Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) and Endeavour departed from Edwards...

STS-130 Status Latest:

Endeavour’s path towards a Sunday landing will include the checkout of the orbiter’s systems required for landing on Saturday (End Of Mission-1 – EOM-1), following Friday night’s departure from the Station.

“STS-130 mission is proceeding nominally. Flight Day 11/12 Activities Completed: Orbiter to ISS transfers. Hatch was closed at 0308 EST this morning. ODS (Orbiter Docking System) leak checks were completed at 0319 EST. Orbiter undocked from ISS today at 1954 hrs EST. Flight Control System checkout and RCS (Reaction Control System) hot fire Saturday evening,” noted NTD mission status.

The TCS (Trajectory Control Sensor) was used during undocking, despite the recording of erratic data during rendezvous on Flight Day 3. Via new procedures that were sent to the crew earlier in the week, the TCS performed as planned.

“The operation of the STS-130 (20A) Trajectory Control Sensor (TCS), S/N 1007 was nominal and complete by 12:47 AM CST in support of Tools Checkout prior to ISS undocking activities,” noted Mission Management Team (MMT) documentation (L2) ahead of undocking.

“The unit was powered ON at approximately 12:23 AM CST. The TCS unit passed all self tests. The unit was allowed to remain powered through two long calibrations for TCS. Engineering to collect and evaluate data. The unit was powered down at approximately 12:47 AM CST.

“The crew did recycle the power after initial power ON displayed an “unrecognized command ignored: message. The unit did pass Self Test after both power cycles. The message cleared after the 2nd power cycle. TCS Engineering will review data, but do not believe to this to be a major problem with the unit or related to the CW laser failure experienced during Rendezvous/Docking activities. The TCS is ready to support undocking activities.”

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

Undocking and flyaround was – as per usual – stunning, with Endeavour taking a 360 degree tour of the Station, whilst allowing for some high resolution photography to be taken of a TPS (Thermal Protection System) anomaly on one of the docked Soyuz spacecrafts. This was requested by Russian engineers, who have only low resolution photography to work with prior to Endeavour’s flyaround.

With two retrograde (opposite to the direction of travel) burns completed by Endeavour, the STS-130 crew are fast losing sight of the ISS. However, they will still be able to return, in the highly unlikely event of a serious TPS issue being found during Late Inspections.

Those inspections picked up late on Flight Day 13, with all RCC (Reinforced Carbon Carbon) on Endeavour inspected during the OBSS (Orbiter Boom Sensor System) sweep of the Starboard Wing, Nose Cap, and Port Wing.

The two wing surveys covered most of the areas of the crew cabin, while the OMS Pods are inspected using a handheld camera to take pictures from the aft flight deck windows.

The imagery gained will now be reviewed by the DAT (Damage Assessment Team) on the ground, cross-referencing with the Flight Day 2 and 3 footage, prior to a peer review that will ultimately clear the orbiter for re-entry sometime on Saturday.

Two opportunities are available for landing at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Sunday, with Edwards Air Force Base on standby to be called up as back-up. Due to ever-changing weather forecasts, White Sands was even mentioned to the crew as a potential landing site – though this is likely to be a reference to a Monday (EOM+1) call up option.

KSC’s first landing opportunity will be Sunday evening at 2216 EST, with a second landing opportunity – if needed – Sunday evening at 2351 EST.

The mission has been proceeding extremely well from an orbiter perspective, with no issues of note being worked by the Mission Evaluation Room (MER) in Houston. Only two items were noted via MER and MMT materials ahead of undocking, the first of which relates to the capacity of the orbiter’s waste water tank.

“MER Items: EECOM (Emergency, Environmental and Consumables Operation Manager) closely monitoring Shuttle waste tank quantities in hopes of not having to offload the waste tank into CWCs (Contingency Water Container) prior to the post-undocking waste dump opportunity,” added MMT documentation. Endeavour is free to carry out a water dump now she is clear of the ISS.

“No new IFAs (In Flight Anomalies). Funnies (minor issues): Window #2 Micro Meteoroid Orbital Debris (MMOD) impact.”

The impact to the flight deck window is the second recorded MMOD strike for Endeavour – but as with the hatch window, the damage is only minor and has been cleared for entry.

“Problem Description: The STS-130 crew reported a micro-meteoroid orbit debris (MMOD) impact on Thermal Window 2 (middle window). From imagery, the impact appears to be less than 0.10 inch diameter,” noted the MMT presentation on the damage site.

“Problem Impact/Significance: The analysis shows a 99.865 percent probability of maintaining +MOS on entry for the Middle Window on defects up to 1.20 inch diameter. Since the defect reported is estimated at < 0.20 inch diameter, there is no increase in risk associated with this defect on entry and recommends nominal EOM.

“Most Probable Cause: Micro-meteoroid orbit debris likely created the defect reported on W2 on STS-130. Next Failure Consequence: Cracking of the pane (if thermal pane fails at peak aerodynamic load, well after heating). This is the most likely failure mode.

“Fault Tolerance: None, the thermal panes are crit 1/1 hardware. Remaining Controls: No controls exist. Redundancy: Full capability of the system is maintained.”

The hatch window and Window 2 strikes are the first recorded MMOD incidents since STS-126. Such MMOD impacts are, however, not uncommon and are rarely a concern based on risk matrix findings – which is created ahead of a mission.

See also: Endeavour: MMOD hit to radiator
See also: Atlantis: MMOD from another vehicle
See also: MMOD hit on Endeavour window

STS-125′s trip to service Hubble held the highest level of risk for any of the final flights of the manifest – due to the higher orbit – but Atlantis suffered no incidents of note.

“History / Previous Occurrences: MMOD impacts occur on orbit. The most recent MMOD impact reports by the crew include STS-130 W11 (Hatch Window), and (previously with) STS-126 Window #6. Current Status: No increase in risk for entry. Item can be closed. Post-Flight Plans: All windows will be inspected post-flight to assure structural integrity for next flight per V7253.”

Windows are regularly changed out post-flight, as is likely to be the case with Endeavour’s window 2, when she is back in her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) for processing towards the STS-134 mission – “currently” her final mission.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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STS-130 Status:

No issues are being worked by the Mission Evaluation Room (MER) as Endeavour continues to perform admirably whilst docked to the orbital outpost. She even helped the ISS yesterday evening, by gently raising the orbit of the shuttle-station stack to aid the arrival of other vehicles – including Discovery on STS-131.

“Reboost performance was nominal during FD11. Handoff to Orbiter control occurred at GMT 49/07:07:04 with the 13 degree maneuver to the reboost attitude beginning at GMT 49/07:09:26. The configuration 3 (VRCS – Vern Reaction Control System) reboost began at GMT 49/07:31:07 and had a duration of 33 minutes,” noted a MER shift status for Thursday morning.

“The reboost had a maximum attitude error excursion of 0.13 degrees in roll. The 15 degree maneuver back to the TEA (Torque Equilibrium Attitude) began at GMT 49/08:11:54. DAP (Digital Auto Pilot) B13 was selected at GMT 49/08:52:03 for the direct deadband collapse and FREE was selected on the DAP at GMT 49/09:02:27.

“The direct deadband collapse was very clean and exhibited no flight control stability issues. ISS CMG (Control Moment Gyroscopes – 4 mounted on the Z1 truss of the ISS) momentum peaked at approximately 50 percent after handoff to ISS CMG control.

“Reboost TIG was 049/07:31:08 GMT, and burn cutoff was at 049/08:04:08 GMT, resulting in a burn duration of 33 minutes. Pre-burn prediction of reboost performance estimated delta-V, including the pre- and post-reboost attitude maneuvers, at 3.9 fps, resulting in 1.2 nmi increase in altitude. Orbit post burn predicted to be 180.5 x 190.0 nmi.”

Endeavour’s successful reboost added another tick in the mission task box on a flight that can also boast a call from the US President.

“STS-130: On-Orbit, mission is proceeding nominally. Call from President Obama to the crew went very well. Transfer operations progressing nicely – mostly on the timeline throughout the day. WRS1, 2, WHC rack transfer complete. WRS1 umbilical mates in work and OGS umbilical demates in work,” noted MER mission overview status (via L2).

“Cryo Margins: (above 14+2) O2 limited:12 hours without SSPTS (Station-to-Shuttle Power Transfer System), one day with SSPTS. Transfer Status: Transfer activity: crew on timeline, six hours allocated to transfers on FD12. Typical mission driven late transfer changes have added ~2 hrs of transfer.

“All Life Support Systems are performing nominally. Working no issues at this time. Total GN2 = 228.5 lbm. Total Supply Water = 315.0 lbm. Total Waste Water = 66.5 percent (113.1 lbm).

Only three items of interest were reviewed by the MMT, all of which do not relate to Endeavour herself. The first issue has already been cleared, following a breakdown and recovery of the Russian CO2 management hardware – called the Vozdukh – and the other two items relating to the recently completed EVA-3.

“CO2 Management: Vozdukh valve R&R completed and functionality recovered. CO2 profile has returned to mission predicts (<4 mmHg), used 1 LiOH canister yesterday, new plan targets transferring 4 or 7 canisters to ISS,” added the MMT Presentation for end of FD11 (all FD MMT materials available on L2).

“EVA-3: EV1 Water Drops in EMU (3005). EV1 noted water droplets in his suit during EVA ingress. Observed on EVA 1 as well, will not drive a change to the return plan.

“EVA Glove report: Initial report is that additional imagery is required for assessment on EV1, will be collected later. EV2’s prime gloves are no-go for use due to loose RTV on the index finger.”

It is extremely unlikely another EVA would be required during the mission, with only an emergency repair to Endeavour’s Thermal Protection System (TPS) – via damage found during Late Inspections – or a failure of the Payload Bay Doors to close at EOM (End Of Mission) requiring a spacewalk solution.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

MMOD Strike – Cleared:

There are no areas of interest ahead of Friday’s Late Inspections, with the only addition to the FD2-3 inspections and RPM imagery coming in the form of a MMOD strike to the crew hatch window.

MMOD strikes are common on the orbiter – although the last recorded MMOD strike to a window was recorded back on STS-126. The more ‘serious’ MMOD strikes have been to the orbiter radiators over recent years.

See also: Endeavour: MMOD hit to radiator
See also: Atlantis: MMOD hit originated from another vehicle

“Side Hatch Window Thermal Pane MMOD Impact (AR 4557). Crew reported small MMOD impact on side hatch thermal pane near window perimeter between 7 o’clock and 8 o’clock position,” added MMT presentations. “Problem Description: (MMOD) impact on Thermal Window 11 (side hatch). From imagery, the impact appears to be less than 0.10 inch diameter.”

A well-rehearsed process of evaluation is put into play when a MMOD strike is recorded, which uses analysis tools to predict if – and how much – the crack will grow during the remainder of the flight, and during re-entry.

“Problem Impact/Significance: The Window PRT (Team) uses a statistical analysis tool to assess MMOD impact reports to predict probability of flaw growth. This analysis is based on residual strength test data and quantifies the probability of the flaw to maintain positive margin of safety (+MOS) on entry,” added a MER report on the impact.

“The analysis shows a 99.865 percent probability of maintaining +MOS on entry for the Side Hatch on defects < 0.20 inch diameter. Since the defect reported is estimated at < 0.20 inch diameter, there is no increase in risk associated with this defect on entry and the PRT recommends nominal EOM.”

The evaluations of even the smallest cracks are important, due to the obvious problem of a thermal pane cracking before or during re-entry, which would result in the loss of vehicle and crew (LOVC).

“Next Failure Consequence: Cracking of the pane (if thermal pane fails at peak aerodynamic load, well after heating). This is the most likely failure mode. LOCV (If thermal pane fails during or before peak heating of reentry) This failure mode is highly unlikely due to a lack of loads on the thermal pane to propagate cracks from the ding.

“Fault Tolerance: None, The thermal panes are crit 1/1 hardware. Remaining Controls: No controls exist. Redundancy: Full capability of the system is maintained. History / Previous Occurrences: MMOD impacts occur on orbit. The most recent report was during STS-126 where an MMOD impact was reported on Window #6.”

With the strike documented, engineers will evaluate a repair or replace approach for the window once Endeavour is back in her Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF). A full post-flight inspection is carried out by OPF engineers regardless.

“Current Status: No increase in risk for entry. Item can be closed. Post-Flight Plans: All windows, including W11, will be inspected post-flight to assure structural integrity for next flight per V7253.”

Endeavour is due to undock from the ISS at 7:54pm Eastern.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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STS-130 Latest:

Most of the mission’s major milestones had been completed by the time EVA-3 started, with Node 3 now being outfitted since its installation, which was soon followed by the relocation of the Cupola to the Earth-facing port, and the Pressurized Mating Adaptor (PMA-3) move to the port side of Tranquility.

“STS-130 mission is proceeding nominally. Flight Day 8/9 Activities Completed: Cupola vestibule outfitting was started. Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) un-berthed from Harmony zenith port and installed on forward port of Tranquility (Node 3),” summed up the mission status via the NASA Test Director (NTD).

“Flight: Day 9/10 Activities Planned: EVA-3 procedure review and campout by Behnken and Patrick. EVA-3 begins Tuesday at 2109 hrs EST. Node 3 to PMA 3 reconfiguration of fluid lines and cables.

The Mission Evaluation Room (MER) continues to enjoy a smooth mission, thanks to the performance of Endeavour – with no issues recorded since docking. As is normal for a “quiet” mission, engineers have been spending time evaluating a few of the minor issues recorded earlier in the flight.

“MER Items: MER-06: TCS (Trajectory Control Sensor) erratic data during rendezvous,” was one previous “funny” (minor issue) reviewed – which holds no mission impact for undocking later this week.

“Problem Description: During approach, TCS did not operate as expected. TCS did not transition from the Pulsed to Continuous Wave (CW) laser mode as expected at ~1000 feet. Instead TCS remained with the Pulsed laser and had occasional instances of switching to the CW laser,” listed MMT documentation via L2.

“During the RPM (Range ~600 feet), the CW laser data became ratty and usable. The raw Rdot values were fluctuating between 0.7 and 5 feet per second, with the filter smoothing the data enough to be usable. The Pulsed laser was overridden by the crew on the V-bar (Range ~250 feet).

“The CW laser performance on the V-bar was no better than the earlier Pulse laser performance, showing jumps in position, rapid changes in Rdot and frequent nav-initializations. No further troubleshooting was performed.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

With no TCS data available from the RPM onwards towards docking, the crew used the HHL (Hand Held Laser) and range ruler as the prime sensors and/or backup TRAD sensor for docking. The HHL will be used for the post-undocking flyaround.

“For undocking and fly-around, TCS expects that the CW laser will continue to generate unusable data with jumps in range/range rate that was observed during rendezvous,” added the presentation, before adding the most probably cause for the TCS issue.

“Analysis of the TCS data for the rendezvous and docking portion of the mission indicated that the nonconformance was being generated from the intermediate tone board. This board is used to generate the range value for the CW returned signal. A review of the STS-127 data for the previous flight of SN 1007 did not show this irregularity. The spikes in the range value coincided with an intermittent failure of a bit in the affected board.”

EVA-3:

Behnken and Patrick concluded the final EVA of the mission - their third in a row – following on the heels of two very successful spacewalks. Most of the work was conducted around the new hardware that flew uphill with them on Endeavour.

“After the standard campout protocol is completed the crew presses into a 6.5 hr EVA. The crew perform the STS/ISS safing for the EVA (Inhibit Pad),” noted EVA-3 procedures (L2).

“The first task is to install the PMA-3 heater and data cables. Followed by the opening of the Loop B QDs (Quick Disconnect) on Node 3 and removal of the LTA (Launch To Activation) cables.”

No strangers to the MLI blanket insulation – following their work to install numerous blankets to protect Node 3′s ammonia lines on EVA-2 – the duo were tasked with the removal of the MLI from the windows on Cupola. Storing the bulky material into large bags was challenging, but successful.

“The next big task is to remove all of the MLI on the external face of the Cupola. A bag will be setup to hold all of it, to be brought inside and down to the ground. The launch locks will be release once they are done with the MLI,” pre-empted the procedures.

Once the launch locks were removed, the ISS crew cycled the window shields/shutters one at a time, providing them with the first view of the Earth from their new observation deck. All of the windows weren’t open at the same time, with Tuesday’s task simply used to check the shutters opened without a problem.

A few hours later, all of the windows were opened together, providing a stunning view for the the crewmembers – see live thread for FD10 for all the EVA’s events, with screenshots and video.

With Patrick already completing the task of installing most of the handrails on Node 3 as a previous EVA get-ahead, only a few additional tasks were added to the end of the spacewalk. Most of this work will aid STS-131′s planned spacewalks.

These get-ahead tasks included the relocating an APFR (Articulated Portable Foot Restraint), work on a VSC Video Cable – stretching back to the Russian segment – and work on a gap spanner.

EVA Comm issue evaluations:

Controllers on the ground closely monitoring the quality of the communications between the spacewalkers during the spacewalk, the ISS and the ground – following some minor issues during both EVA-1 and EVA-2.

“MER-07: EV1 CCA SN 1213 volume low during EVA 1. MER-08: EV1 CCA SN 1172 No C&W tones during EVA 2 prep,” lists the two issue reports at the MER – with most of the evaluation work concentrating on EVA-1′s problem.

“Problem Description: EVA1: During STS-130 EVA-1, EV1 (Behnken) earphone/receive audio in both earphones began to degrade approximately 4 hours into the EVA. EV1 increased the volume from 4 to 6. He continued the EVA with low audio levels; not total loss of audio.

“Prior to entering the Airlock at the end of the EVA, EV1 switched from PRI (primary) to ALT (alternative) with no change in audio level. Post EVA the ear cups were inspected for visible moisture with none found. Seals were inspected; seals looked intact. A comm check was performed in both hard-line and PRI using the Prime CCA and the B/U (Back UP) CCA. The B/U had nominal audio with the Prime still exhibiting the same reduced audio level.

The problem is related to the CCA – or Comm Cap – worn by spacewalkers during their EVAs – with the likely cause expected to relate to a build-up of moisture, even though it wasn’t obvious via post-EVA inspections. Communication problems were also noted on two EVAs during the previous shuttle mission, STS-129.

“History: STS-129 EV1, EMU 3018 on EVA 1 – Low audio (max vol) during last 2 hrs EVA; post EVA, dried CCA ear cups. STS-129 EV1, EMU 3018 on EVA 2 – EVA Prep: good comm check and tones. EVA: reported only 1 alert tone, faint comm (max vol) – Post-EVA Troubleshooting: low audio (tones, comm) compared to different CCA,” outlined a dedicated MMT presentation (L2).

“STS-130 EV1, EMU 3018 on EVA 1 – Low audio with (max vol) during last hour of EVA. Post EVA tested B/U CCA and reported good audio (comm only). STS-130 EV1, EMU 3018 on EVA 2 – EVA Prep: B/U CCA no tones; switched to EV2 b/u CCA (good check out). No audio issues during EVA.

“Concern: Post STS-129, CCA team investigating audio issues. EMU 3018 is common in each of these EVA audio/comm issues. EVA Team Response/Action. EVA Team with FCE and EV met to evaluate the audio/comm system. Developed fault tree (high-level) and event timeline. No quick answer, many system variables limited data – 4 electrical modules, 6 separate harnesses, multiple CCAs, multiple anomaly signatures.”

With EMU 3018 set for return onboard Endeavour, engineers will be able to examine all the associated hardware in order to confirm root cause and potential get-wells for future EVAs. No communication issues were noted during EVA-3.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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Mission Status Update:

In all, STS-130 has been an extremely clean flight, with only four (4) issues so far making to the Mission Evaluation Room (MER)-level of discussion, leading to the opening status of “STS-130 mission is proceeding nominally,” almost becoming a copy and pasted note via the engineers monitoring the mission.

All FD-5 activities through FD-6 (Flight Day 6) have been completed to date as STS-130 heads into its first weekend of on-orbit activities.

One expected decision by the Mission Management Team (MMT) was to extend the mission by the optional one docked day, which is a sign of a mission that is proceeding to plan. The additional day will allow for more time to be dedicated with work relating to both Node 3 outfitting and the troublesome Urine Processing Assembly (UPA).

On the ground, both Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are back at Port Canaveral and Open Assessment on the SRBs began Friday. It is expected that the video footage from both boosters will be available – and as tradition replayed on NASA TV – either on Sunday or Monday.

There was only one new ‘funny’ as of the end of the week, with the MER list noting “EV1 CCA S/N 1213 Comm. Dropouts during EVA 1 noted toward end of EVA. Reconfirmed after ingress and on hard-line.”

This issue related to Behnken’s sudden loss of communication quality during the latter part of EVA-1, where he complained about the drop in volume for calls made by both Patrick and IV Steve Robinson. However, Behnken was still able to hear calls from CAPCOM in Houston, and the quality improved as he translated through the worksites.

The only other items of note were three (3) new Mission Evaluation Room (MER) items – brining to total MER items for the mission up to four.

The first new MER item pertained to the WLEIDS (Wing Leading Edge Impact Detection System) sensor – which originally appeared in the “funnies” category earlier in the mission.

“MER-02 WLEIDS Sensor #1155 Off Scale High During Ascent. Data analysis and potential troubleshooting will be worked post flight.”

The WLEIDS sensors have played an impressive role since their Return To Flight addition to the fleet – literally allowing the orbiter’s to “feel” for any impacts during ascent, and for part of the on orbit mission.

Some of the sensors – or accelerometers – have been added to other areas in the aft of the orbiters, allowing for additional data on the Main Engine Ignition (MEI) Acoustic and SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) Ignition Overpressure (IOP) Environments.

The second new MER item related to one of the three TPS (Thermal Protection System) areas of interest – all of which have been analyzed by flight engineers and cleared for entry. Additional overviews via the Damage Assessment Team (DAT) will be rounded up in an upcoming article.

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

The third and final new MER item was noted as “MER-04 OCA 48Mbps Not Available. Troubleshooting on this issue revealed that the MUX position switch is electrically latched to DTV position.” Again, this issue is minor and holds no mission impact.

EVA-2 Preview/FD-7 Preview:

For the second of STS-130′s three EVAs, Behnken and Patrick were tasked with eight primary activities, prescheduled for 6-hours and 30-minutes to accomplish.

To begin the EVA, Behnken and Patrick installed the now infamous NH3 (Ammonia) lines to the external cooling systems on Node-3/Tranquiltiy.

The original NH3 lines – which failed one of the final qualification tests in January – have been replaced with more robust lines, created by welding smaller NH3 lines together. During the removal of a cap on a Quick Disconnect, Patrick noted he saw a small amount of ammonia spray out. Although he was checked by Behnken – who did not notice any contamination on Patrick’s suit – contingencies saw the English-born spacewalker “bake out” his EMU suit on returning to Quest on the appropiate timeline.

After installing these lines, Behnken and Patrick covered the lines with the appropriate MLI (Multi-Layer Insulation) blankets before opening up the NH3 Loop B Quick Disconnects. Soon after, MCC-H confirmed the lines were working as planned, “bringing Node 3 to life”.

Following this activity, the spacewalking duo installed the Keel Pin and Trunnion covers to Node-3 before moving on to a handful of operations on one of Node-3′s Common Berthing Mechanism (berthing ports).

The final three tasks completed on EVA-2 were the installation of eight handrails to the exterior of the Node-3, the installation of one gap spanner, and the installation of a non-propulsive vent.

In addition to these EVA activities, the STS-130 and ISS crews will transfer an Integrated Stowage Platform, conduct internal outfitting activities of Node-3 (including IMV installation and the filling of water bus), and installation of ARED (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device).

Following the completion of EVA activities, the Cupola module will be depressurized and then grappled by SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) ahead of its relocation.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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STS-130 Status:

Overall, STS-130 continues to move down the pre-launch timeline without any major hiccups and imagery analyst have determined that no focused inspection of Endeavour will be required prior to clearing her Thermal Protection System for reentry.

Moreover, all primary Flight Day 4 (FD-4) activities were completed, including the replacement of the Distillation Assembly in the Water Recovery System by ISS crewmember Jeff Williams.

Endeavour’s numerous systems also continue to perform exceptionally well, with no new items of note from the Mission Evaluation Room (MER). Conversely, there was one new “funny,” a false ISS Caution and Warning alarm on the orbiter.

A false ISS caution and warning on the Orbiter has occurred on at least one previous flight in recent months. The false warning is not a concern for flight safety and will be investigated by the appropriate departments to determine its cause.

Meanwhile, both Solid Rocket Boosters have returned to Port Canaveral. “Freedom Star and Liberty Star have both arrived at Hangar AF,” notes this morning’s NTD (NASA Test Direction) status report (L2).

“During transit through the locks the left booster made contact with the fender wall during exit. Potential damage is under assessment as slip operations continue.”

STS-130 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-130/

At the time of the morning report, the right hand SRB had been transferred to the dolly and open assessment on both SRBs was scheduled to begin Friday morning at 7a.m. Local.

EVA-1 Overview:

The primary task of Thursday’s spacewalk was the unberth and installation of the Node-3/Tranquility module from Endeavour to the port docking port of the Node-1/Unity module.

The EVA, which carried a planned duration of 6hrs and 30mins, saw Behnken and Patrick – with the assistance of Terry Virts and Kay Hire working the SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator System) inside the ISS – unberth Node-3 from Endeavour’s payload bay.

Following unberth of Tranquillity, Behnken and Patrick removed the contamination cover from the Passive Common Berthing Mechanism on Node-3 – the berthing port where Node-3 will attach to Node-1.

The spacewalking duo also installed a BUS terminator to Node-3 and remove the Orbiter LTA cables and stowed them in the LTA cable Tool Stowage Assembly in Endeavour’s payload bay.

Behnken and Patrick then installed a gap spanning and performed a NH3 Bag OPS before removing an Orbital Replacement Unit and tying it down.

The spacewalkers then installed LTA cables onto Node-3 following its berthing to the port docking port of Unity. The final primary task of the EVA saw Behnken and Patrick install the avionics cables to Node-3.

Overall, EVA-1 had numerous tasks that had to be competed in order to satisfy the critical Cat I objectives for the EVA and payload side of the STS-130 mission.

According to the EVA office presentation to the SSP FRR (Space Shuttle Program Flight Readiness Review), “EVA 1 requires full 6:30 to achieve Cat 1 objectives. EVA delays such as those caused by break in campout could drive use of (the) +1″ mission day.

In the end, all primary – and a few get-ahead tasks – were completed in the 6:30 MET timeline.

Per the pre-mission planning timeline, Endeavour and the ISS carry enough consumables to support the three nominal EVAs plus one contingency EVA and two “return contingency” EVAs – in case Endeavour’s ET Umbilical Well doors had failed to close during post-launch reconfiguration (the doors closed successfully following ET separation after ascent) or in case a mechanical failure were to drive the need for a manual closing of the orbiter’s payload bay doors at the conclusion of the mission.

All three of STS-130′s planned EVAs are timelined to last 6hrs 30mins and will make use of LiOH canisters to perform the necessary carbon dioxide scrubbing of the air inside the spacewalker’s EMUs (Extra-vehicular Mobility Units).

In addition to the LiOH use, Nick Patrick will use METOX during EVA-3 to perform the necessary CO2 scrubbing of the air in his spacesuit.

For this mission, both Behnken and Patrick will make use of Redesigned TMG prime and backup gloves. This is the first flight on which both the prime and backup gloves will be flown.

L2 members : Documentation – from which the above article has quoted snippets – is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4500 gbs in size

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