![]() Ten years ago today, the shuttle took flight under her own power for the final time. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim ShiflettĪ string of “Go” calls-interspersed with an occasional poignant remark about the contributions of the Space Shuttle Program across three decades of service-reached the ears of Launch Director Mike Leinbach, seated at his console in the Launch Control Center (LCC) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on the morning of 8 July 2011.Īll stations, from the Orbiter Test Conductor (OTC) to the Superintendent of Range Operations (SRO) and from the Safety Console to STS-135 Commander Chris Ferguson, seated on shuttle Atlantis’ flight deck, confirmed to NASA Test Director (NTD) Jeff Spaulding that they were ready to launch the 135th and last mission of the program. During 26 years of active operational service, she supported five Department of Defense assignments, seven shuttle-Mir dockings and 12 trips to the International Space Station (ISS). With STS-135, Atlantis was embarking on the 33rd and final flight of her career. You can follow Staff Writer Denise Chow on Twitter. Space Shuttle Discovery's Retirement Plan in Limbo.Video – Space Shuttle Discovery: A Retrospective, Part 2, Part 3.Gallery: Building Space Shuttle Discovery.Workers have been given Thursday and Friday off – for the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States – with work expected to resume on Saturday. Teams at Kennedy Space Center have been hard at work since Discovery's launch was originally scrubbed on Nov. If NASA is unable to make the mid-December launch window, Discovery's STS-133 mission could be pushed into late February, when the next window opens up. "We need to nail down our risk exposure to this." "Even though the problem may be fixed, you make sure, generically, that you're not exposed to that same risk anywhere else," Shannon said. 19), shuttle technicians installed new sections of double-thick metal to replace the cracked areas.Ī separate crack in the exterior foam insulation on Discovery's fuel tank was also repaired, NASA officials said. Two cracks each were found on two metal ribs around the upper middle portion of Discovery's external tank. Still, shuttle program managers did not feel they had a firm enough grasp of how the problem originated in order to proceed with a launch attempt next week. In the last week, engineers completed work to plug a potentially dangerous hydrogen gas leak and reinforce cracked metal ribs on Discovery's huge external tank. ![]() The shuttle's planned 11-day mission will deliver a storage room and Robonaut 2, a humanoid robot, to the International Space Station. EST (0753 GMT) from a seaside launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Most recently, Discovery was slated to launch with a six-astronaut crew on Dec. 17 launch, if approved, would occur at 8:51 p.m. As it stands, the mid-December launch window opens on Dec. The final flight of Discovery has already been delayed by over a month due to technical and weather-related issues. NASA and National Philharmonic team up for another successful launch Composer Henry Dehlinger collaborated with the space agency to create his new orchestral and multimedia suite, Cosmic. "We want to make sure we fully understand the problem before we fully commit to go fly," Shannon said.ĭiscovery's STS-133 mission will be the shuttle's 39th and final flight, before it is retired along with the rest of NASA's orbiter fleet in 2011. Shannon added that the engineering teams are concerned primarily with understanding the issues and evaluating the risks, and are less concerned with setting any definite launch dates. If NASA is unable to launch Discovery in December, the next clear chance to do so would come in February. The agency tries to not schedule any shuttle flights over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, because shuttles in orbit during the year change would need a flight computer reconfiguration, shuttle managers have said. 17, but a lot of data has to come together to support that."Ī mid-December launch would push Discovery's planned 11-day spaceflight into the Christmas holiday, something NASA has typically worked to avoid. "We'll leave the option open for a launch window for Dec. 7 window that's coming up next week," John Shannon, NASA's shuttle program manager, said in a news conference this afternoon. "What we've told the agency leadership is that clearly we're not ready for the Dec. 17, if not into the next launch window in February. Based on the discussion, NASA officials decided to forgo any launch attempts until at least Dec. 24) to review recent repairs to Discovery's massive external fuel tank. Top shuttle program managers met today (Nov. NASA's latest launch delay for the space shuttle Discovery could push the spacecraft's final mission into the Christmas holiday, or even postpone it completely until February, agency officials said Wednesday.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |