Space
shuttle Discovery sits on pad 39A after being transported from the
Vehicle Assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, May 3, 2008. Discovery is on schedule to
launch on May 31.
The
astronaut crew of space shuttle Discovery, clockwise from left, pilot
Ken Ham, mission specialist Ron Garan, Japan Aerospace Exploration
Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, mission specialists Greg Chamitoff,
Mike Fossum and Karen Nybergand and commander Mark Kelly wave as they
leave the Operations and Checkout building during a dress rehearsal for
their mission to the International Space station at Kennedy Space
Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, May 9, 2008. Discovery is
scheduled to launch May 31.
The crew of the space shuttle Discovery successfully completed
a dress rehearsal today for their upcoming launch. They capped off their practice run
at Cape Canaveral with a simulated countdown to liftoff at 11:00 a.m. EDT.
The seven STS-124
astronauts are scheduled to launch May 31 at 5:02 p.m. EDT to deliver the International
Space Station’s largest room, the 32,500-pound Japanese Kibo Laboratory. Crewmembers
are slated to perform three spacewalks during their planned 13-day mission.
“This is a big moment in our training to actually go
through a real terminal countdown,” Discovery’s commander Mark Kelly told
reporters Thursday. “In this case it’s a test, but we do everything that
we’d do on launch day.”
The crew began to don their orange launch and re-entry spacesuits
at Kennedy Space Center (KSC)’s launch pad
39A �around 8:15 a.m. EDT this morning.
They climbed into the orbiter and ran through the launch
procedures that will take place during the real event, short of fueling up and
actually taking off.
The crewmembers, including shuttle pilot Ken Ham, mission
specialists Karen Nyberg, Mike Fossum, Ron Garan, Greg Chamitoff and Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, arrived at KSC
on Tuesday.
Yesterday, the astronauts practiced the escape
procedures
they would use if they had to evacuate the shuttle in the case of an
emergency. They rehearsed climbing into and out of the baskets that
would zip them quickly away from the launch pad (though they did not
actually
ride them down, because NASA administrators deem this too much of an unnecessary
risk).
Today’s practice countdown was the last scheduled training
exercise at Cape Canaveral until the STS 124 flight. Later at 2:00 p.m.
EDT the astronauts will head back to Houston to resume preparing for
the mission. They plan to arrive back in Florida on May 28.
“We’re excited to be here,” Kelly said Thursday.
“We look forward to getting back in about three weeks from now.”
09
May
May
Space Shuttle Discovery in Good Shape for May Launch
Posted by Andrew in Shuttle Missions, Space Shuttles
NASA’s shuttle Discovery is on track to ferry seven astronauts and a large Japanese laboratory to the International Space Station (ISS) later this month.
Shuttle
commander Mark Kelly told reporters Thursday that Discovery’s preparations are going extremely
smoothly for its planned May 31 launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, Fla.
“From what
I was told yesterday, the condition of the orbiter and the number of problems
we’ve had with it have been at a historic low,” Kelly said from Discovery’s seaside
Pad 39A launch site. “So that makes us feel really good.”
Kelly and
his STS-124 astronaut crew are in the final weeks of preparation for their
planned 13-day mission to the ISS, where they will deliver Japan’s massive
37-foot (11-meter) Kibo laboratory during three spacewalks.
The astronauts
are currently at NASA’s Florida spaceport for a three-day training session to practice
launch
and escape procedures, as well as practice donning their bright orange
pressure suits for liftoff and landing. They will stage a dress rehearsal of their
final hours before launch on Friday and cap the training simulation with an
emergency escape drill.
“We’ve got
a little bit of training and a little bit of practice to go,” Discovery mission
specialist Mike Fossum said this week. “We’ll be ready to take off in a few
weeks.”
According
to the United Space Alliance, NASA’s shuttle contractor, engineers have tackled
only 40 glitches with Discovery - the fewest ever in the entire 27-year history of
shuttle flight - in their bid to ready the orbiter for its late May liftoff. The second-lowest number of issues - 76 in all - occurred
in April 2001 as engineers were again preparing Discovery for flight, USA
officials said.
“The
reason the shuttle has fewer maintenance issues is a lot of hard work that
has gone into making the hardware, processes, and software better along with a
little bit of luck,” said Mark Nappi, USA’s program manager for ground
operations, in a statement. “We are seeing it across the board on all processing.”
Discovery’s
STS-124 mission will mark NASA’s third shuttle flight of the year
dedicated to hauling a new orbital room to the high-flying space
station. The shuttle Atlantis delivered Europe’s
Columbus laboratory to the station in February and was followed by the
Endeavour orbiter carrying an attic-like
storage room for Japan’s Kibo lab.
NASA now hopes
to launch a total of five shuttle flights this year, which include four station
construction flights and a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. A planned
sixth flight, slated for flight in December, has been pushed to early 2009 due
to fuel tank delivery delays, mission managers have said
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STS-125: Final Shuttle Mission to Hubble Space Telescope 
Image above: The astronauts selected for the final shuttle mission to perform work on the Hubble Space Telescope pose for a group photo. From left to right are astronauts Megan McArthur, Michael Good, Gregory C. Johnson, Scott Altman, John Grunsfeld, Michael Massimino and Andrew Feustel. Image credit: NASA
Veteran astronaut Scott D. Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to Hubble. Navy Reserve Capt. Gregory C. Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists include veteran spacewalkers John M. Grunsfeld and Michael J. Massimino and first-time space fliers Andrew J. Feustel, Michael T. Good and K. Megan McArthur.
Altman, a native of Pekin, Ill., will be making his fourth space flight and his second trip to Hubble. He commanded the STS-109 Hubble servicing mission in 2002. He served as pilot of STS-90 in 1998 and STS-106 in 2000. Johnson, a Seattle native and former Navy test pilot and NASA research pilot, was selected as an astronaut in 1998. He will be making his first space flight.
Chicago native Grunsfeld, an astronomer, will be making his third trip to Hubble and his fifth space flight. He performed a total of five spacewalks to service the telescope on STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 in 2002. He also flew on STS-67 in 1995 and STS-81 in 1997. Massimino, from Franklin Square, N.Y., will be making his second trip to Hubble and his second space flight. He performed two spacewalks to service the telescope during the STS-109 mission in 2002.
Feustel, Good, and McArthur were each selected as astronauts in 2000. Feustel, a native of Lake Orion, Mich., was an exploration geophysicist in the petroleum industry at the time of his selection by NASA. Good is from Broadview Heights, Ohio, and is an Air Force colonel, weapons systems officer and graduate of the Air Force Test Pilot School, having logged more than 2,100 hours in 30 different types of aircraft. McArthur, born in Honolulu, Hawaii, considers California her home state. She has a doctorate in oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California-San Diego.
Space Shuttle Overview: Atlantis (OV-104)
NASA’s fourth space-rated space shuttle, OV-104 "Atlantis," was named after the two-masted boat that served as the primary research vessel for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts from 1930 to 1966. The boat had a 17-member crew and accommodated up to five scientists who worked in two onboard laboratories, examining water samples and marine life. The crew also used the first electronic sounding devices to map the ocean floor. 
Image to right: During its second major overhaul, Atlantis received the new Multifunction Electronic Display System, or "glass cockpit." Credit: NASA
Construction of the orbiter Atlantis began on March 3, 1980. Thanks to lessons learned in the construction and testing of orbiters Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger, Atlantis was completed in about half the time in man-hours spent on Columbia. This is largely attributed to the use of large thermal protection blankets on the orbiter’s upper body, rather than individual tiles requiring more attention.
Weighing in at 151,315 pounds when it rolled out of the assembly plant in Palmdale, Calif., Atlantis was nearly 3.5 tons lighter than Columbia. The new orbiter arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 9, 1985, and over the next seven months was prepared for her maiden voyage.
Like her seafaring predecessor, orbiter Atlantis has carried on the spirit of exploration with several important missions of her own. On Oct. 3, 1985, Atlantis launched on her first space flight, STS-51-J, with a classified payload for the U.S. Department of Defense. The vehicle went on to carry four more DOD payloads on later missions. 
Image to left: Riding twin plumes of flame produced by its Solid Rocket Boosters, Space Shuttle Atlantis clears the tower as it launches on mission STS-46. Credit: NASA
Atlantis also served as the on-orbit launch site for many noteworthy spacecraft, including planetary probes Magellan and Galileo, as well as the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. An impressive array of onboard science experiments took place during most missions to further enhance space research in low Earth orbit.
Starting with STS-71, Atlantis pioneered the Shuttle-Mir missions, flying the first seven missions to dock with the Russian space station. When linked, Atlantis and Mir together formed the largest spacecraft in orbit at the time. The missions to Mir included the first on-orbit U.S. crew exchanges, now a common occurrence on the International Space Station. On STS-79, the fourth docking mission, Atlantis ferried astronaut Shannon Lucid back to Earth after her record-setting 188 days in orbit aboard Mir.
In recent years, Atlantis has delivered several vital components to the International Space Station, including the U.S. laboratory module, Destiny, as well as the Joint Airlock Quest and multiple sections of the Integrated Truss structure that makes up the Station’s backbone. As NASA seeks to fulfill the Vision for Space Exploration, beginning with the completion of the Station, Atlantis will be called upon for many missions to come.
Construction Milestones - OV-104
Jan. 29, 1979
Contract Award
March 30, 1980
Start structural assembly of crew module
Nov. 23, 1981
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
June 13, 1983
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
Dec. 2, 1983
Start of Final Assembly
April 10, 1984
Completed final assembly
March 6, 1985
Rollout from Palmdale
April 3, 1985
Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
April 9, 1985
Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
Sept. 5, 1985
Flight Readiness Firing
Oct. 3, 1985
First Flight (STS-51-J)
Upgrades and Features
By early 2005, Atlantis had undergone two overhauls known as Orbiter Maintenance Down Periods. Some of the most significant upgrades and new features included:
- Installation of the drag chute
- New plumbing lines and electrical connections configuring the orbiter for extended duration missions
- New insulation for the main landing gear doors
- Improved nosewheel steering
- Preparations for the Mir Orbiter Docking System unit later installed at Kennedy
- Installation of the International Space Station airlock and Orbiter Docking System
- Installation of the Multifunction Electronic Display System, or "glass cockpit"
STS-124
Navy Cmdr. Mark E. Kelly will command the STS-124 shuttle mission to deliver the Pressurized Module and robotic arm of the Japanese Experiment Module, known as “Kibo” (hope), to the International Space Station. Navy Cmdr. Kenneth T. Ham will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists will include NASA astronauts Karen L. Nyberg; Air Force Col. Ronald J. Garan Jr.; and Air Force Reserve Col. Michael E. Fossum. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide also will serve as a mission specialist.
Navy Cmdr. Stephen G. Bowen was previously named to the STS-124 crew but has been reassigned to STS-126. The change allows room for the STS-124 mission to rotate a space station resident.
Astronaut Gregory E. Chamitoff is scheduled to fly to the station as a mission specialist on STS-124. He will take Astronaut Garrett E. Reisman’s place as an Expedition 17 flight engineer and return to Earth on shuttle mission STS-126.
The STS-124 mission is the second of three flights that will launch components to complete the Kibo laboratory. The mission will include two spacewalks to install the new lab and its remote manipulator system. The lab’s logistics module, which will have been installed in a temporary location during STS-123, will be attached to the new lab.
STS-124 is the 26th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle Overview: Discovery (OV-103)
Discovery (OV-103) was NASA’s third space shuttle orbiter to join the fleet, arriving for the first time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 1983.
After checkout and processing, it was launched on Aug. 30, 1984, for its first mission, 41-D, to deploy three communications satellites.
Since that inaugural flight, Discovery has completed more than 30 successful missions, surpassing the number of flights made by any other orbiter in NASA’s fleet. Just like all of the orbiters, it has undergone some major modifications over the years. The most recent began in 2002 and was the first carried out at Kennedy. It provided 99 upgrades and 88 special tests, including new changes to make it safer for flight.
Image left: Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off Pad B at the Kennedy Space Center on September 12, 1993, to begin STS-51. Image credit: NASA
Discovery has the distinction of being chosen as the Return to Flight orbiter twice. The first was for STS-26 in 1988, and the second when it carried the STS-114 crew on NASA’s Return to Flight mission to the International Space Station in July 2005.
The choice of the name “Discovery” carried on a tradition drawn from some historic, Earth-bound exploring ships of the past. One of these sailing forerunners was the vessel used in the early 1600s by Henry Hudson to explore Hudson Bay and search for a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Another such ship was used by British explorer James Cook in the 1770s during his voyages in the South Pacific, leading to the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. In addition, two British Royal Geographical Society ships have carried the name “Discovery” as they sailed on expeditions to the North Pole and the Antarctic.
Destined for exploring the heavens instead of the seas, it was only fitting that NASA’s Discovery carried the Hubble Space Telescope into space during mission STS-31 in April 1990, and provided both the second and third Hubble servicing missions (STS-82 in February 1997 and STS-103 in December 1999).
Image right: On February 21, 1997, the Space Shuttle Discovery touches down in darkness on Runway 15 of the KSC Shuttle Landing Facility, bringing to a close the 10-day STS-82 mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Image credit: NASA
During its many successful trips to space, Discovery has carried satellites aloft, ferried modules and crew to the International Space Station, and provided the setting for countless scientific experiments.
Construction Milestones
January 29, 1979
Contract Award
August 27, 1979
Start long lead fabrication of Crew Module
June 20, 1980
Start fabrication lower fuselage
November 10, 1980
Start structural assembly of aft-fuselage
December 8, 1980
Start initial system installation aft fuselage
March 2, 1981
Start fabrication/assembly of payload bay doors
October 26, 1981
Start initial system installation, crew module, Downey
January 4, 1982
Start initial system installation upper forward fuselage
March 16, 1982
Midfuselage on dock, Palmdale
March 30, 1982
Elevons on dock, Palmdale
April 30, 1982
Wings arrive at Palmdale from Grumman
April 30, 1982
Lower forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
July 16, 1982
Upper forward fuselage on dock, Palmdale
August 5, 1982
Vertical stabilizer on dock, Palmdale
September 3, 1982
Start of Final Assembly
October 15, 1982
Body flap on dock, Palmdale
January 11, 1983
Aft fuselage on dock, Palmdale
February 25, 1983
Complete final assembly and closeout installation, Palmdale
February 28, 1983
Start initial subsystems test, power-on, Palmdale
May 13, 1983
Complete initial subsystems testing
July 26, 1983
Complete subsystems testing
August 12, 1983
Completed Final Acceptance
October 16, 1983
Rollout from Palmdale
November 5, 1983
Overland transport from Palmdale to Edwards
November 9, 1983
Delivery to Kennedy Space Center
June 2, 1984
Flight Readiness Firing
August 30, 1984
First Flight (41-D)
Upgrades and Features
Discovery benefited from lessons learned in the construction and testing of Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger. At rollout, its weight was some 6,870 pounds less than Columbia.
Beginning in the fall of 1995, the orbiter underwent a nine-month Orbiter Maintenance Down Period (OMDP) in Palmdale California. The vehicle was outfitted with a 5th set of cryogenic tanks and an external airlock to support missions to the International Space Station. It returned to the Kennedy Space Center, riding piggy-back on a modified Boeing 747, in June 1996.
Following STS-105, Discovery became the first of the orbiter fleet to undergo Orbiter Major Modification (OMM) period at the Kennedy Space Center. Work began in September 2002, and along with the scheduled upgrades, additional safety modifications were added as part of the preparations for Return to Flight.
