Space Shuttle: November 2008 Archives

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

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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 

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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