NASA has confirmed they will attempt two Space Shuttle missions in the space of two months next year – with a third expected to be added at a later date.
Discovery is set to kick start the remaining 19 STS (Space Transportation System) missions with STS-121 – dubbed Return to Flight 3 – on May 16, with sister ship Atlantis blasting off 52 days later (July 12) on STS-115.
Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will be a test flight, with a solution now been found and worked upon to finally end the concerns over unacceptable foam shedding during assent. The Shuttle program was put on temporary hold after a large chuck of External Tank (ET) foam liberated off the PAL Ramp section shortly after Solid Rocket Booster separation (SRB sep) on STS-114.
The actual solution that has been decided has not been released to the media, although sources have confirmed that ET-120 – currently at the Michoud Assembly Building in New Orleans, and ET-119 – awaiting transport to the ET factory, will both have their PAL Ramps removed, replaced with a new “spray on” section, which will also include areas near the PAL Ramps which produced divots during STS-114’s launch.
Shuttle manager Wayne Hale recently admitted that the suspect area of the PAL Ramp was the subject of a repair, although that alone could not be fully blamed for the foam shedding that occurred.
(PAL Ramp Exclusive: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?id=3308)
With the STS-300 (rescue mission) still active for this flight, Atlantis is currently in launch process alongside Discovery. Should all go to plan with Discovery’s mission, Atlantis will be stood down from any emergency requirement and readied for STS-115 – a return to ISS assembly missions.
Atlantis will be carrying the P3/P4 cargo element (second port truss segment and a solar array set) for the ISS on Assembly mission 12A.
The youngest Orbiter in the fleet, Endeavour, was recently powered up after coming out of a near-two year Orbiter Major Modification (OMM) period – and is now in launch processing for a 2006 mission. While Endeavour didn’t make the launch manifest listed by NASA, she is expected to fly an ISS assembly mission later in 2006 – possibly the latter half of September.
Endeavour is also expected to receive the honour of being the last Orbiter to visit the Hubble Space Telescope within the next few years. The much-loved telescope requires another servicing mission to extend its lifetime into the next decade. This mission will be the only Shuttle flight that will not utilise the safe haven option of the ISS.
Listed below is NASA’s list of launches – primarily from Cape Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center and USAF base Vandenberg – for 2005 and 2006:
2005:
October 26- A Boeing Delta 7420 rocket with the CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites to measure clouds, from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Launch time: 6:01 a.m.
November 5- A Boeing Delta 4 rocket with the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-N (GOES-N) weather satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from Pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch window: 5:30 p.m. to 6:40 p.m.
2006:
January 11- Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket with NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch Window: 2:07 p.m. to 4:07 p.m.
January 31- A Boeing Delta 4 Heavy rocket with a Defense Support Program missile warning satellite for the U.S. Air Force from from Pad 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch window to be announced.
February 28 – Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL with NASA’s Space Tech 5 spacecraft from high above the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. Launch window: 8:57 a.m. to 10:19 a.m.
April 11- Boeing Delta 2 with NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) from Pad 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch window to be announced.
May 16- STS-121 to the International Space Station, carrying supplies and retesting design changes to the external fuel tank foam insulation as well as heat-shielding inspection and repair tools.
May 29- A Boeing Delta 4 Heavy rocket with a National Reconnaissance Office classified intelligence satellite (NROL-26) from Pad 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch window to be announced.
June 1- A Boeing Delta 4 rocket with a GOES-O weather satellite for NASA and NOAA from Pad 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Launch window to be announced.
June 17- Boeing Delta 2 rocket with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Dawn mission from Pad 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch window to be announced.
July 12- STS-115 to deliver and attach the second port truss segment and a solar array set to the International Space Station. ISS mission 12A from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
September 29- Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Orbital Express robotic satellite servicing demonstration from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch window to be announced.
September- Lockheed Martin Atlas V rocket with the STP-1 mission consisting of seven separate satellites for the U.S. Air Force from Pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch window to be announced.
September 29- Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL with NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft from high above Pacific Ocean off the California coast. Launch window to be announced.
October 4- Boeing Delta 2 rocket with the NPOESS Preparatory Project for NASA and NOAA from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Launch window to be announced.
October 19- Boeing Delta 2 rocket with the NASA’s Themis mission from Pad 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Launch window to be announced.