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By TonyF on 13 February 2010 at 9:00PM
LIVE, from orbit, it's SATURDAY NIGHT SPACEWALK! The second EVAs of Endeavour's of three scheduled spacewalks is slated for tonight. On tap: installing coolant lines for the Tranquility and Cupola modules that were berthed to the Space Station Thursday morning. NASA reports:
 Image above: Intersecting the thin line of Earth's atmosphere, space shuttle Endeavour's starboard wing is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member while Endeavour remains docked with the International Space Station. Image credit: NASA
All plans are go for the second spacewalk of shuttle mission STS-130 at 9:09 p.m. EST, resuming the integration of the International Space Station’s new Tranquility module. The crew members from the station and shuttle Endeavour also have learned they’ll have an extra day on orbit together.
Spacewalkers Robert Behnken and Nicholas Patrick will spend the first part of the spacewalk connecting two ammonia loops, with two lines in each loop, from the Destiny module to Tranquility, hooking the new module to the station’s cooling system, and open one of those loops to initiate cooling of the module. Then they’ll install thermal covers on Tranquility’s keel pin and trunnions, to prevent condensation inside the module, outfit the nadir docking port of Tranquility for the relocation of the cupola module, and install handrails. The spacewalk is scheduled to conclude at 3:39 a.m. Sunday.
Station Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineers Soichi Noguchi and T.J. Creamer, Pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialist Kathryn Hire will continue outfitting Tranquility’s interior, including setting up the ventilation system and configuring racks
Early Saturday morning the crew members outfitting Tranquility were unable to install a center disk cover on the module’s outboard docking port due to interference with the cover’s attach mechanism from hardware inside the cupola; that cover protects the docking interface from debris and temperature extremes when there’s no module attached to it. The planned depressurization and grappling of the cupola at the end of the crew work day has been deferred to permit troubleshooting of that situation.
Mission managers today approved adding an extra day to the flight. That day, which will be a new Flight Day 11 beginning Wednesday afternoon, will be used to relocate two Water Recovery System racks, the Waste Hygiene Compartment and the Oxygen Generation System into Tranquility. Those relocations were on hold pending the repairs conducted earlier in the flight, and enough run time on the system to generate needed samples for return to Earth for analysis.
Endeavour’s landing now will occur Sunday night, Feb. 21.
Live HD coverage at SpaceVidCast. Live video at SFN and Florida Today. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
By TonyF on 12 February 2010 at 7:55AM
So, these flight days are a little funny this time out (at least for those of us in US time zones) because they span calendar days. FD 5 is scheduled to end at 8:14AM EST today (Friday) - it started yesterday afternoon. Overnight, Endeavour astronauts Nicholas Patrick and Bob Behnken completed the first spacewalk of the STS-130 mission. NASA reports:
Image above: Mission Specialist Bob Behnken works outside the International Space Station during the first spacewalk of the STS-130 mission. Image credit: NASA TV
› Meet the STS-130 Crew
STS-130 crew members installed a 2,600-cubic-foot addition to the International Space Station early Friday, combining the talents of robotic arm operators and spacewalkers to connect the Italian-built Tranquility module.
Tranquility was installed at 1:20 a.m. EST Friday over the Indian Ocean west of Singapore. Mission Specialist Kay Hire and Pilot Terry Virts used the station’s Canadarm2 to pull Tranquility out of the space shuttle Endeavour’s payload bay and position it on the port side of the station’s 10-year-old Unity module. Tranquility was locked in place with 16 remotely controlled bolts.
Spacewalkers Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick stepped outside the Quest airlock module at 9:17 p.m. Thursday and immediately began preparing the new module for its trip from the cargo bay to the station. Mission Specialist Steve Robinson helped coordinate the 6-hour, 32-minute spacewalk, which ended at 3:49 a.m. Friday. As Behnken and Patrick waited for the robotic arm operators to carefully maneuver Tranquility into position, they relocated a temporary platform from the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, or Dextre, to the station’s truss structure and installed two handles on the robot.
Once Tranquility was structurally mated to Unity, the spacewalkers connected heater and data cables that will integrate the new module with the rest of the station’s systems. They also pre-positioned insulation blankets and ammonia hoses that will be used to connect Tranquility to the station’s cooling radiators during the mission’s second spacewalk that begins Saturday night. The station’s new room with a view, the cupola, will be moved from Tranquility’s end to its Earth-facing port on Sunday.
As the spacewalk ended, Mission Control reported that all data and heater connections were working well, and that the vestibule separating Tranquility and Unity had passed its initial leak check.
Image above: Mission Specialists Nicholas Patrick and Bob Behnken work outside the International Space Station during the first spacewalk of the STS-130 mission. Image credit: NASA TV
Live video at SFN and Florida Today. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Status Report #9 here. Flight Day 4 pics and video are up at the JSC Gallery. More clips at Space Multimedia. CFNews13 has a new "inside view" launch clip. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
By TonyF on 31 July 2009 at 7:25AM
Flight Day 17 should be homecoming day for Endeavour's astronauts. NASA reports:
Image above: STS-127 Mission Specialist Julie Payette is pictured on the aft flight deck of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Endeavour. Photo credit: NASA
Space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to land at Florida's Kennedy Space Center today with a touchdown at 10:48 a.m. EDT. The shuttle would begin its descent from orbit with a deorbit engine firing at 9:42 a.m. Weather conditions at Kennedy are forecast to be favorable for landing, although a slight chance of rain is possible.
A second opportunity exists for a landing in Florida today, beginning with a deorbit engine firing at 11:16 a.m., leading to a 12:22 p.m. touchdown. No other shuttle landing sites are being considered for a landing today. If weather prevents a landing today, alternate landing sites would be called up for Saturday’s landing opportunities.
Thursday, Endeavour Commander Mark Polansky and Pilot Doug Hurley checked out the systems the shuttle will use as it returns home, finding everything in excellent shape. The crew also deployed two pairs of small satellites from canisters in the shuttle’s payload bay.
› Read more
STS-127 Additional Resources
› Mission Press Kit (6.9 Mb PDF)
› Mission Summary (429 Kb PDF)
› Meet the STS-127 Crew
Friday's Landing Day Highlights (all times are listed in EDT)
|
| 5:53 a.m. |
Deorbit preparations begin |
| 7:02 a.m. |
Payload bay door closing |
| 7:15 a.m. |
Mission Control "go" for Ops 3 software transition |
| 8:19 a.m. |
Endeavour astronauts suit up |
| 8:42 a.m. |
Astronauts strap into their seats |
| 8:58 a.m. |
Orbital Maneuvering System engine gimbal checks |
| 9:09 a.m. |
Auxiliary power unit prestart |
| 9:22 a.m. |
Mission Control "go/no-go" decision for the deorbit burn |
| 9:27 a.m. |
Maneuver to the deorbit burn attitude |
| 9:42 a.m. |
Deorbit burn |
| 10:35 a.m. |
Merritt Island, Fla. tracking station acquires signal from Endeavour |
| 10:48 a.m. |
Landing |
Live HD webcast at SpaceVidCast. Landing blog at NASA. Flight Day 15 pics and video are up at the JSC Gallery. More pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Live video at SFN. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
By DIRECT2TheMoon on 15 July 2009 at 5:31PM
...and LIFTOFF of Endeavour, completing Kibo and fulfilling Japan's hope for an out-of-this-world space laboratory!
Finally! On the sixth launch attempt, Florida's summer storms held off and allowed Endeavour to launch on a construction and crew-transfer mission to the International Space Station. NASA reports:
Image above: Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy SPace Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA TV
STS-127 Mission Overview
The 16-day mission will feature five spacewalks and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space.
The STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station.
STS-127 Additional Resources
› Mission Press Kit (6.9 Mb PDF)
› Mission Summary (429 Kb PDF)
› Meet the STS-127 Crew
Live HD webcast at SpaceVidCast. Launch clip at YouTube and BBC. Preflight pics are up at CBC, JSC, and Sentinel. Launch blog at NASA. Pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Live video at SFN. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
By TonyF on 13 July 2009 at 11:23PM
With Monday's launch scrubbed AGAIN due to weather, NASA has announced that the next attempt will be Wednesday at 6:03PM EDT.
By TonyF on 12 July 2009 at 11:31PM
Did you ever feel like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away? Thunderstorms in the KSC area prompted mission managers to scrub Sunday evening's launch attempt, the fourth for STS127. Endeavour is now scheduled to lift off Monday evening, but weather is still a concern. If they scrub Monday, there will be one more launch opportunity Tuesday, and then Endeavour will be grounded until July 27. NASA reports:
Image above: Storm clouds roll in over the NASA Vehicle Assembly building and Launch Control Center moments after Space Shuttle Launch Director Pete Nickolenko called the launch a "No Go" due to weather conditions. Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls › View High-res
Image above: TV monitors in Firing Room Four of the Launch Control Center show Launch Pad 39A with the space shuttle Endeavour and the inspection team at Kennedy Space Center. Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
› View High-res
Officials at NASA's Kennedy Space Center scrubbed the planned launch of space shuttle Endeavour on July 12 at 7:13 p.m. EDT due to inclement weather in the area. The next launch attempt is Monday, July 13 at 6:51 p.m. EDT.
Monday's Launch Day Highlights (all times are listed in EDT)
|
| 8:45 a.m. |
Mission Management Team meets to give a “go” for the fueling of Endeavour |
| 9:26 a.m. |
Countdown resumes at the T-6 hour mark with the fueling of Endeavour |
| 12:26 p.m. |
Countdown enters a 2-hour, 30-minute built-in hold at the T-3 hour mark; fueling enters stable replenish |
| 1:30 p.m. |
Launch coverage begins on NASA TV and Launch Blog |
| 2:56 p.m. |
Countdown resumes at T-3 hours |
| 3:01 p.m. |
Endeavour astronauts depart crew quarters for Launch Pad 39A |
| 3:31 p.m. |
Astronauts arrive at the launch pad and begin to board Endeavour |
| 4:46 p.m. |
Endeavour's hatch is closed and latched for launch |
| 5:36 p.m. |
Countdown enters a 10-minute planned hold at the T-20 minute mark |
| 5:46 p.m. |
Countdown resumes at the T-20 minute mark |
| 5:57 p.m. |
Countdown enters a 45-minute planned hold at the T-9 minute mark, during which the Mission Management Team and Launch Control team will conduct polls to give a final "go" decision for launch |
| 6:42 p.m. |
Countdown resumes at the T-9 minute mark |
| 6:46 p.m. |
Auxiliary Power Units start at the T-5 minute mark |
| 6:51 p.m. |
Endeavour launches on the STS-127 mission |
| 6:59 p.m. |
Main Engine Cut Off (MECO) |
Live HD webcast at SpaceVidCast. Preflight pics are up at CBC, JSC, and Sentinel. Launch blog at NASA. Pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Live video at SFN. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
By TonyF on 12 July 2009 at 11:57AM
Fourth time's a charm? NASA has cleared Shuttle Endeavour for launch today, after lightning struck near the launch pad Friday night, spurring mission managers to check out all the electrical systems at the pad and on the vehicle. NASA reports:
Image above: On Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Endeavour awaits launch. Image credit: NASA TV
Image above: Rollback of the rotating service structure (at left) reveals space shuttle Endeavour atop the mobile launcher platform. Photo Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
› View High-res
All times listed in EDT
|
| 8:00 a.m. |
Mission Management Team meets to give a “go” for the fueling of Endeavour |
| 9:30 a.m. |
Fueling coverage begins on NASA TV and Launch Blog |
| 9:48 a.m. |
Countdown resumes at the T-6 hour mark with the fueling of Endeavour |
| 12:48 p.m. |
Countdown enters a 2-hour, 30-minute built-in hold at the T-3 hour mark; fueling enters stable replenish |
| 2:00 p.m. |
Launch coverage begins on NASA TV and Launch Blog |
| 3:18 p.m. |
Countdown resumes at T-3 hours |
| 3:23 p.m. |
Endeavour astronauts depart crew quarters for Launch Pad 39A |
| 3:53 p.m. |
Astronauts arrive at the launch pad and begin to board Endeavour |
| 5:08 p.m. |
Begin closing Endeavour's crew hatch |
| 5:58 p.m. |
Countdown enters a 10-minute planned hold at the T-20 minute mark |
| 6:08 p.m. |
Countdown resumes at the T-20 minute mark |
| 6:19 p.m. |
Countdown enters a 45-minute planned hold at the T-9 minute mark, during which the Mission Management Team and Launch Control team will conduct polls to give a final "go" decision for launch |
| 7:04 p.m. |
Countdown resumes at the T-9 minute mark |
| 7:08 p.m. |
Auxiliary Power Units start at the T-5 minute mark |
| 7:13 p.m. |
Endeavour launches on the STS-127 mission |
| 7:22 p.m. |
Main Engine Cut Off (MECO) |
Live HD webcast at SpaceVidCast. Preflight pics are up at CBC, JSC, and Sentinel. Launch blog at NASA. Pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Live video at SFN. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
By TonyF on 11 July 2009 at 10:09AM
SCRUB! Lightning strikes at the launch pad have caused concern for launch pad equipment, prompting mission managers to delay Endeavour's launch by one day. Tomorrow's launch attempt, the fourth for STS-127, is scheduled for 7:13PM (2313 GMT) Sunday. NASA reports:
Image above: After rollback of the rotating service structure, or RSS, on Launch Pad 39A, space shuttle Endeavour waits for launch. Image credit: NASA/Jack Pfaller
› View High-res
Space shuttle Endeavour’s launch has been delayed 24 hours to allow technical teams additional time to evaluate lightning strikes at Launch Pad 39A that occurred during Friday's thunderstorm.
A news conference with Mike Moses, SSP Launch Integration Manager, will be held at 11 a.m. EDT on NASA TV and on the Web at www.nasa.gov/tv.
Preflight pics are up at CBC, JSC, and Sentinel. Launch blog at NASA. Pics and video at KSC. More clips at Space Multimedia. Live video at SFN. Discussion at Nasaspaceflight. Check the links at right for play-by-play and NASA TV.
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