Updates STS-134 Updates

[orb]

NASASpaceFlight: STS-134: Hardware and planning aligning for Endeavour’s final mission:

Endeavour is deep into her processing flow for the STS-134 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), as engineers worked through a few hiccups with her AMS payload. Managers continue to work on the STS-134 mission baseline, which may include a fourth EVA. ET-122 is also now assigned to STS-134 in processing charts – pending the funding of STS-135.

STS-134 is currently baselined as a 12+1+2 day flight with 3+1 EVAs (Spacewalks), with a total of six crewmembers – refined from its original baseline. The launch date continues to track February 26, 2011.
...

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

A nice interview with the Kelly brothers.

SPACE.com: "Astronaut Double Take: Identical Twins Headed for Space Station".

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Video from Mark Kelly via Twitter: Getting suited up for today's entry sim.

This is an image from the official AMS-02 Twitter account - the C5 crew signed one of the panels on AMS's delivery frame!

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Lots of AMS processing going on. :thumbup:

Today at KSC we installed the Umbilical Mechanism Assembly (UMA) which will provide the power and data interface to the ISS.

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The keel structure was installed on the payload yesterday. This is the final Space Shuttle mechanical interface.

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The External Berthing Camera System was installed yesterday. This camera will provide astronauts a view as they install AMS on ISS truss.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NASA To Ship Fuel Tank For The Last Planned Shuttle Flight.

The external fuel tank that will power the last planned space shuttle into orbit will be shipped Tuesday to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The tank has been restored to flight configuration at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans after sustaining damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The tank, designated ET-122, will support shuttle Endeavour's flight targeted for launch in February.

At Michoud, ET-122 was rolled out to an enclosed barge, which will carry the tank 900 miles to Kennedy Space Center during a five to six-day sea journey. ET-122 is expected to arrive at Kennedy Sunday, Sept. 26.

During the hurricane, the roof of the building that housed the tank was ripped off by high winds. After falling debris damaged the tank, it was removed from the shuttle flight manifest. Lockheed Martin engineers assessed the damage, and prepared and executed a tank restoration plan.

The Shuttle Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the External Tank Project. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. of Denver is the prime contractor. For more than 29 years of shuttle flights, Lockheed Martin workers at Michoud have built and delivered 135 flight tanks to NASA's Space Shuttle Program.

Standing 15 stories tall and almost 28 feet in diameter, the external tank is the largest element of the shuttle transportation system, which also includes the orbiter, main engines and twin solid rocket boosters. During a shuttle launch, the external tank delivers 535,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants to the shuttle's three main engines. Despite the tank's size, the aluminum skin covering it is only one-eighth-inch thick in most areas. Yet, it withstands more than 6.5 million pounds of thrust during liftoff and ascent. The tank is the only shuttle component that is not reused.

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Images of ET-122's rollout at MAF.

---------- Post added 20th Sep 2010 at 09:47 PM ---------- Previous post was 20th Sep 2010 at 09:41 PM ----------

Interface operations finished: no more integration this week, it's electronics and simulation time, with many data acquisition shifts!

 

[Kyle]

ET-122 looks different from all the other tanks!

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

ET-122 looks different from all the other tanks!

Yup, because it's older & has been repaired.

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Reborn after Katrina, shuttle fuel tank leaves factory:

An external fuel tank damaged by Hurricane Katrina left a New Orleans factory Tuesday on a 900-mile barge trip to the Kennedy Space Center, where it will be bolted to the shuttle Endeavour for the program's final scheduled launch.
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---------- Post added at 23:19 ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 ----------

NASASpaceFlight: MAF speak of their pride in returning ET-122 to the Shuttle manifest:

NASA and Lockheed Martin managers at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) have spoken pride in the manufacturing, assembly, and repair work on External Tank 122 (ET-122), which was damaged by Hurricane Katrina five years ago. On Monday morning, the tank was rolled from Building 420 to the Pegasus barge that will carry it to Kennedy Space Center over the next week.

The tank is tentatively assigned to fly on STS-134 in February, but a final decision on which tank will fly that mission – ET-138 or ET-122 – will be made between now and November.

As noted in the Program Requirements Control Board (PRCB) presentation on the tank allocation debate, there are some slight differences between ET-138 and ET-122 – visible by a large number of repair patches on the latter, but also by way of safety modifications.
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[Rex]

STS-134

so with the shuttle era comming to an end in feb. 2011 i think it would be a good idea to have as many orbinauts as we can watching the launch on nasa tv by internet or on actual tv, and be in the orbiter irc discussing it and the shuttle era in general

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NASA Invites Media To Two Historic Events At Kennedy Space Center.

Reporters are invited to two historic Space Shuttle Program events at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday, Sept. 28. The final solid rocket booster (SRB) assembly will depart the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility, and the external fuel tank for the last planned shuttle flight will be removed from the barge that carried the tank from Louisiana.

NASA will provide video and still images of both events. The SRB event, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. EDT, consists of a ceremony, photo opportunity, and media interview opportunities with a booster project expert. At approximately 10:30 a.m., there will be a photo opportunity of the tank being towed off the Pegasus barge and into Kennedy's Vehicle Assembly Building, and interviews with External Tank/Solid Rocket Booster Vehicle Manager Alicia Mendoza. Reporters must arrive at Kennedy's news center by 8 a.m. for transportation to cover the SRB event. Journalists will be located in the turn basin parking lot for the tank opportunity.

The final train carrying shuttle solid rocket booster segments arrived at Kennedy on May 27. The segment cars travelled across the country after departing the ATK solid rocket booster plant in Promontory, Utah. ATK Launch Systems manufactures and tests the solid rocket motors. The assembly would be used in the solid rocket boosters designated for shuttle Atlantis' STS-335 rescue mission, in the unlikely event it was needed.

The tank, designated ET-122, will support shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission targeted for launch in February. It departed NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana on Sept. 21, to begin the six-day, 900-mile sea journey. The barge will arrive at Kennedy on Sept. 27. The tank will be offloaded on Sept. 28.

International media accreditation is closed for these events. U.S. reporters without permanent Kennedy credentials must apply for accreditation by noon, Sept. 27.

Reporters requesting accreditation must apply online at:
https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

Badges for the events may be picked up Sept. 28 starting at 6 a.m. at the Kennedy Space Center Badging Office on State Road 405.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NASASpaceFlight: "ET-122 arrival marks upcoming Michoud workforce cull, hope for HLV role".

Florida Today's "The Flame Trench" Blog: "Last external tank docked at KSC".

---------- Post added 28th Sep 2010 at 01:56 AM ---------- Previous post was 27th Sep 2010 at 11:38 PM ----------

STS-134 EVA-4 has been approved! The following is a "conversation" that took place between me & Mark Kelly via Twitter earlier today.

Mark:
Control room at the NBL as Drew and Spanky train for our new EVA 3.
http://yfrog.com/5y1d0fj

Me:
"New" EVA-3? What's new about it? Have you picked up any extra tasks?

Mark:
Yah buddy. One more EVA and 2 more days in space for STS134.

So I guess the mission is now 14+1+2 in duration.

(BTW, Woo-Hoo - Mark Kelly called me "buddy"! :thumbup

 

[orb]

Spaceflight Now: Sign of the times: Final shuttle tank arrives:

The Kennedy Space Center took receipt of the last space shuttle external fuel tank today, as the massive propellant reservoir for Endeavour's February launch was offloaded from a sea-going barge.

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ET-122 will be hoisted into the checkout cell within the assembly building's High Bay 4 on Wednesday to undergo final pre-flight processing.

Stacking of the twin solid rocket boosters for the mission has been completed aboard the mobile launching platform in High Bay 1. The boosters will be rolled around to High Bay 3 on October 26 in advance of attaching the tank on November 18.

Endeavour is undergoing pre-flight activities at its hangar adjacent. Current plans call for the orbiter's delivery to the Vehicle Assembly Building on January 5 for attachment to the tank and boosters. The fully stacked shuttle vehicle then rolls to pad 39A on January 18.

Liftoff time on February 26 is targeted for 4:04 p.m. EST.

Spaceflight Now photos by Justin Ray:

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Florida Today's "The Flame Trench" Blog: "KSC offloads last tank, honors final booster segment".


collectSPACE: "Photo Gallery: Space shuttle's final fuel tank arrives at launch site".

Hi-res ET-122 arrival photos can be found at the KSC Media Gallery.

NASA TV Video: Shuttle's Final Fuel Tank Arrives at Kennedy.​

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

We have been testing the interface to ISS all week. All Good. Tomorrow we move from our current stand to the ELC Rotation Stand.

...

AMS-02 moved to ELC rotation stand where it will stay for about a month. Need to verify all the connections between the Shuttle and the ISS.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

New launch date/time is Sunday 27th February at 3:38 PM EDT/8:38 PM GMT.


International Partners Update Space Station Launch Manifest.

NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) agreed on Friday to update the International Space Station launch schedule.

The target launch dates for the last planned space shuttle flight, STS-134 on Endeavour, will be Feb. 27, 2011, and the Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2) will be Feb. 15. Roscosmos will continue to look at Soyuz launch and landing options to provide manifest robustness.

The agencies agreed to the changes during discussions at the International Astronautical Conference in Prague. Arianespace, whose Ariane 5 rocket will launch ATV-2 into orbit from French Guiana, has confirmed its commitment to launch on Feb. 15.

The STS-134 flight will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) to the station. The AMS is a state-of-the-art cosmic ray particle physics detector designed to examine fundamental issues about matter, and the origin and structure of the universe. The flight will include three spacewalks and the installation of the AMS to the exterior of the space station using both the shuttle and station arms.

ATV-2, dubbed Johannes Kepler, is scheduled to dock on Feb. 26 to the station. The cargo craft is designed to deliver more than seven tons of experiments, fuel, water, food and other supplies to the space station. While docked, ATV-2 will use its thrusters to periodically boost the station's orbit, which decays with time. It also can be used for emergency maneuvers, such as those required if a piece of space debris is predicted to hit the station. This capability saves critical attitude control propellant for the station.

After about 3.5 months, the ATV-2 will undock from the station and burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere over an uninhabited area of the Pacific Ocean. The first ATV, Jules Verne, was launched in March 2008 and reentered the atmosphere in September 2008.

The space station launch manifest is available at:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html

For details about upcoming shuttle missions and crews, visit:
www.nasa.gov/shuttle

For more information about ATV-2, visit ESA at:
www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ATV

For more information about the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, visit:
www.arianespace.com/launch-services/launch-services-overview.asp

For more information about the space station, visit:
www.nasa.gov/station

---------- Post added 2nd Oct 2010 at 01:23 AM ---------- Previous post was 1st Oct 2010 at 08:48 PM ----------

Spaceflight Now: "One-day delay of final shuttle launch makes room for ATV".

 

[orb]

Here's updated STS-134 Flight Plan from Spaceflight Now.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

NASA TV Video: External Fuel Tank for Last Shuttle Mission Moves to VAB.​

NASA TV Video: External Tank Gets Lift for "Checkout".​

 

[Nazban]

Couple of facts for this mission
1) Final Space Shuttle flight
2) Final flight of Endeavour
3) OBSS left on ISS
4) Last EVA's preformed by a Space Shuttle
5) Last science related Shuttle mission payload (AMS-02)

They Approved STS-135 for Atlantis, so your 1st and 4th points are wrong.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

They Approved STS-135 for Atlantis, so your 1st and 4th points are wrong.

STS-135 isn't officially approved yet (although it's likely it will be) – the new bill still has to be signed off by the President.

Technically speaking, 4 is still correct, as 135's EVA would be performed by the ISS crew, not the Shuttle crew. However, you are correct in that 135 would be the final EVA performed with a Shuttle present at the ISS.

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Photo of AMS-02 rotated 90° on the ELC rotation stand - from the official AMS-02 Twitter account.