Recently in Space Shuttle Category

credit: NASA / caption: see the Earth through Endeavour's flight deck windows

On 16 November 2008 NASA astronaut Eric Boe, STS-126 pilot, is shown here sitting at the pilot's station on the forward flight deck of Space Shuttle Endeavour during rendezvous and docking operations with the International Space Station. However the pilot's window was soon to feel an impact from what could have been micro meteorite orbital debris

See close-up pictures, post-impact, in the extended section of this blog post

Click on images in this blog post to see larger versions in the same browser window

It is unusual, in fact rare, that a Flight publication would ever comment on our US counterpart but even from Hyperbola's rarified orbit the blogosphere is clearly glowing with rage at a recent decision by a management who you would have thought know better

Journalism is a unique business where some unique individuals can become as big as the stories they write. Downsizing is one thing but the letting go of certain writers, hugely high profile in the space industry with decades of experience and contacts throughout the likes of NASA, is surely a direct shot through your own print product's feet?

Whatever will they do next at McGraw-Hill, you have to wonder?

credit: NASA / caption: but when in '09?

The latest Space Shuttle programme manifest shows the Ares I-X launch put back to 11 July 2009, assuming a 12 May date next year for the lift-off of Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing mission four (SM4), STS-125

And in a related change the lightning tower seen in the poster above is unlikely now to occur as the planned four lightning towers that will, Russian launch pad-like, stand at each of the "corners" of the Kennedy Space Center complex are already being put in place 

click on the images in this blog post to see a larger version in the same browser window

credit: NASA / caption: this image is from STS-61

With the NASA Authorisation act 2008 setting the US space agency the challenge of sending the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) instrument to the International Space Station before September 2010, the scheduled retirement for the orbiter fleet, Hyperbola has obtained some details about the work to squeeze the remaining 11 flights in   

Next week, expect more detail from me about NASA's Space Shuttle extension study

credit: NASA / this image is from the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission STS-61

Click through to the video obtained by Hyperbola here at the 44th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference held in Hartford, Connecticut. The NASA exhibit staff told me it has not been placed on the internet yet, so here it is for its "internet premier" so to speak, enjoy

According to sources within NASA's International Space Station Progamme office, managers are still considering whether they want to leave the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module on orbit despite the agency's earlier denials that that could happen. But the current baseline has it returning

Another major change is the possible altering of the rules for Space Shuttle, Soyuz docking at ISS. The idea is that now that the orbiter and Soyuz "docking ports are farther away [from each other]" and ISS will be doing "indirect handovers," with the station crew expansion to six from May 2009, for Shuttle mission flexibility the docking rules can change

Previously Soyuz dockings have not been allowed to occur while the orbiter is on-station and so agency officials want to see if it makes sense to plan for a Soyuz docking or undocking during a Shuttle mission

NASA is also altering its rescue mission planning, also known as launch-on-need flights. The new launch-on-need approach is to use the next flight with the planned cargo complement to rescue the previous flight if necessary, so the concept of STS-3xx is ending

I spoke to NASA space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier at Kennedy Space Center last week, immediately after the post-launch press briefing, and I asked him about the timing of the decision and announcement for Atlantis retirement, whether retirement is this September, after the Hubble Space Telescope STS-125 mission, or if it is after two more missions

After pausing he said that a decision would be made after STS-122. I was surprised by this as I had been told "in the spring" before

Later on I was told by a western European space agency official that NASA had already essentially decided to continue with Atlantis because of the flexiblity in missions that it gives them.

I had already written about NASA's ordering of long lead items for the Shuttle to Station Power Transfer System and its application to Atlantis would mean a five extra-vehicular activity per mission capability for all three of the remainng orbiters, giving the agency maximum flexiblity for the remaining nine missions (after STS-125 and including those so-called "contingency" missions)

It also makes public relations sense to announce the stay of execution immediately after a successful mission. So expect to see more of this!

For the Eagle eyed of you, you might have noticed that in my "VIDEO: Exclusive video of orbiter Endeavour in its OPF and its external tank and SRBs in the VAB" post the video with the ET and SRBs had not quite made it.

Working in KSC's news center on Friday I had to dash to grab a free ride to the airport before I could upload that final video. So here it is, at last, and courtesy of our shiny new video hosting system, so it's bound to work first time...

Exclusive video, taken today, of orbiter Endeavour in its Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) and its external tank and Solid Rrocket Boosters (SRB) in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), in preparation of its mission STS-123, can be seen below.

Endeavour will be moved from its OPF bay to the VAB early on the morning of Monday 11 February, with arrival at the VAB's bay one - where the ET and SRBs are already mated - scheduled for 0800h

The nose gear of Endeavour and the belly of the Shuttle can be seen clearly in this video from the OPF bay one

Here the starboard side of the orbiter can be seen and if you look carefully you should be able to see the E for Endeavour

Here the starboard wing and fuselage of the orbiter can be seen and if you look carefully you should be able to see the first few letters for United, as in United States

Looking at the rear of the orbiter Endeavour in OPF bay one, the engines come into view

Entering the Vehicle Assembly Building its four bays, each of which could contain a completed Space Shuttle stack, are on the right and left of the picture. The SRB nose cones that can be seen at the start of the video are for the April STS-124 mission's solid rocket boosters